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Senatus Populusque – Previewing November’s other elections – politicalbetting.com

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  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    rcs1000 said:

    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 852

    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    Moved back to the UK
    AIUI she was also staying with a family friend rather than with her parents, while Starmer had a severely ill parent.
    Far more sensible to judge them on their graduate education and what they've done since than how stable a home life and well-coached they were at 18.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,471
    rcs1000 said:

    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    Tyranny is facilitated when large parts of a population support the state doing bad things to "other people", and assume those same bad things won't be done to them.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,339
    rcs1000 said:

    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    OIC
    Some countries are weighting the average a little though...
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 10,022
    rcs1000 said:

    One of the sixth formers at my school (who ended up at Oxford) used to make amphetamines in the school chemistry lab.

    This was discovered just before Easter in his upper sixth, and the school was faced with a choice...

    As he was the only kid with an Oxbridge offer, they did exactly what you'd expect, and completely swept it under the carpet.
    The scandal I assume not the amphetamines.
  • Dopermean said:

    Moved back to the UK
    AIUI she was also staying with a family friend rather than with her parents, while Starmer had a severely ill parent.
    Far more sensible to judge them on their graduate education and what they've done since than how stable a home life and well-coached they were at 18.
    Yes UK born, but believe she returned back to Nigeria as a baby still, certainly no schooling here. On the rest of what you say, absolutely agree.
  • MaxPB said:

    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    Keeping an open mind doesn't mean you're saying it's a goose, just you don't yet know what it is for certain.

    The problem is some people lack patience and have an undue haste to predetermine what it is, before the poor victims had even been buried let alone there being a proper investigation.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,849
    MaxPB said:

    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,563
    There need be no huge distinction between terrorism and mental health problems. It's not a binary choice.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    rcs1000 said:

    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
    No, it means lets get real here, the guy is a terrorist and the police dancing on the head of a pin for the sake of community relations is idioitic.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    ….
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    TOPPING said:

    There need be no huge distinction between terrorism and mental health problems. It's not a binary choice.

    I'd suggest that the two are intrinsically linked. One would have to have mental problems to be able to justify killing people for religion.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792

    The scandal I assume not the amphetamines.
    :D
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,257
    MaxPB said:

    I don't understand why this isn't being treated as terrorism, the guy had ricin and a terrorist handbook, he's a terrorist and killed children in an act of terrorism. What are the police afraid of?

    Ricin is usually a dead giveaway for a terrorist motive. It
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Konstantin Kisin went to the Nazi Rally. This is his report:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1IsPL3xWSk
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,800
    edited October 2024
    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,471
    rcs1000 said:

    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
    The police have a long and illustrious history of putting two and two together, deciding something looks and quacks like a duck and then coming a cropper.

    Hillsborough was of course a classic of the genre but Jean Charles de Menezes is a more recent victim of that mentality. There have also been cases here and abroad where attacks were treated as terrorism and then turned out not to be.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,287
    rcs1000 said:

    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    And that, as I understand it, is why Americans are so keen on their right to bear arms.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 33,926
    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617

    Keeping an open mind doesn't mean you're saying it's a goose, just you don't yet know what it is for certain.

    The problem is some people lack patience and have an undue haste to predetermine what it is, before the poor victims had even been buried let alone there being a proper investigation.
    There were those on PB who thought Scottish bin lorries were terrorist. About five minutes after the incident in question.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,399

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    because it needs to be.

    The fact that the 18-20 rate is not increasing to £12.21 is interesting because all the rumours until now was that it would rise to be the same rate for everyone over 18...
  • RobD said:

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Neither will the hospitality industry
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,592

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Combined with NI rise that's a big chunk of the workforce 9% more expensive to employers. And probably swallowing up the entire salary rise budget whilst median wages stagnate and more skilled workers get increasingly little premium to show for it.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,422
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    Which is depressing given my grades. :wink:
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,982
    edited October 2024
    Sean_F said:

    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1). I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,814
    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,773
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    I would not go that far. It is the case that some kids mature at different ages. They may do badly at school but much better at University or indeed in life. Or the reverse. School qualifications seem to me to be focused mainly on diligence and having a decent memory. Brilliance is a nice to have but not an essential. At University in many courses the same remains the case but cleverness tends to be a little more obvious.


    BBC on the back of the schooling that Starmer got seems pretty underwhelming but he got a first class honours degree at his University and went on to a distinguished career in the law. He may be an incompetent balloon as PM and he has a weird tendency to look like a deer in the headlights but I am confident that he is far from stupid. He strikes me as someone who wants a bit of time to think about things which makes some of his interview answers a bit wayward.
  • BatteryCorrectHorseBatteryCorrectHorse Posts: 4,670
    edited October 2024
    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,608
    ...
    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,773
    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Because she is the 1.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,608
    ...

    Neither will the hospitality industry
    A few years ago those complaining at an increase in minimum wage today were lauding lorry drivers naming their price after Brexit.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,814
    DavidL said:

    Because she is the 1.
    Well I think we now know the answer don’t we. It’s hard this lying stuff. Because every time you lie, you have to end up making up another lie. Until eventually your trousers come cascading down your ankles for the whole world to see.

    Southport and its aftermath was one of those few stories that get real cut through during a whole parliamentary term. I’ve got little problem after this news, predicting that there’s almost no chance that Starmer will be prime minister beyond the next election. And therefore there’s a good chance his tenure isn’t even that long, notwithstanding Labour constitutional issues.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,079
    edited October 2024

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
  • ...

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    I do not want a Starmer gotcha - he is doing fine if you on the other side
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,202

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    Plenty of "UK businesses" employ people below the UK minimum wage. They just don't employ them in the UK.
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,301

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    It's probably good for Boston Dynamics.
  • You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,219

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Call me a cynic, but maybe they thought it might be a good time to get some budget news out rather than have Southport dominate bulletins….

    Purely from a news management perspective, it might be the first sensible thing they’ve done tactically…
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 44,888

    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
    My own view on Boris is that he is highly intelligent, but has a lazy brain. If something interests him, he can focus well on it. Or the myriad of stuff that does not interest him, but is vital for the role of MoL or PM - then he either phones it in, or gets his advisers to sort out. When they are really his job.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063
    I do enjoy the argument in the US around Bezos' newspaper not endorsing a presidential candidate. Personally I agree with reasoning that it'd be better if papers didn't do that sort of thing, but the timing is so obvious, and his butter wouldn't melt in his mouth act about Trump meeting with his other company the day after being a coincidence is not persuasive. He should have just made the call 2-3 years ago - any blowback would have been over by now.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063

    One of my colleagues used to be in possession of mg scale amounts of a drug CC1065 that would kill hundreds in the right environment and be almost undetectable (binds to DNA causing multi-organ failure a few months after administration). The way he talks about what terrorists ought to do is fascinating/scary at the same time.
    Thank gods most terrorists are incompetent?
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 23,153
    edited October 2024

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    Which isn't what you were saying not long ago when you were demanding that employers be able to bring in people on minimum wage into the country to evade pay rises to fill vacancies.

    Specifically you said local hospitality couldn't fill vacancies unless people were allowed to migrate on the existing minimum wage rather than put up wages.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,982
    edited October 2024

    My own view on Boris is that he is highly intelligent, but has a lazy brain. If something interests him, he can focus well on it. Or the myriad of stuff that does not interest him, but is vital for the role of MoL or PM - then he either phones it in, or gets his advisers to sort out. When they are really his job.
    Many of the reports from COVID times, that officials found it very difficult to get him to understand what were quite simple things, such that they had to dumb everything down.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,051
    I think I've taken a cold hard cost-benefit analysis approach to any work I've done my whole life. Unless it's something I genuinely love like politics or steam railways. Or, for that matter, military history.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792
    edited October 2024
    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    GOODWINNED



    Again.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,322
    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Hmmmmm what? What do you think the issue is? Home Secretary and Mayor believe extra protection needed following Austrian terrorist issue. Police disagree. Home Secretary and Mayor get their way, possibly under pressure from Swift's team. Seems normal stuff.

    What new conspiracy are you trying to spread now?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,849
    Sean_F said:

    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063

    ...

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    Frustrating though a lack of information might be (if for sake of argument it were being unreasonably withheld), it doesn't magically make deliberate misinformation ok under the guise of 'just asking questions'.
  • KnightOutKnightOut Posts: 147

    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.

    Said it before, I know, but I got an A in my English Lit. A level without properly reading any of the set books.

    This destroyed whatever residual faith I may have had in teachers and teaching.

    I'd estimate ~98% of everything I ever learned was picked up outside the so-called Education System.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,471

    ...

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    The question is what do these agitators want? What would they have liked to happen? Because I doubt that anything reasonable the police could have said or done would have sated their appetite.

    Let’s been honest, given their and others’ messages during the riots. They would have liked the Police to name the murderer as a terrorist, to clearly state his race, to go easy on the rioters and those inciting violence online - perhaps just shrug it off as people blowing off steam. But that wouldn’t be enough. Nothing short of some sort of mass deportation would be enough, because what they want is - to echo some rhetoric that’s made its way on to this site in the last 24 hours - “not to see too many black or brown faces”. Yes, a poster actually wrote that last night, on here.

    That’s the game Goodwin is playing. It’s also the pool Jenrick is dipping his toes into, whether out of ideology or cynicism. PB recently suggests to me that there’s a market for it even amongst people with, to channel another of this evening’s topics, decent A Levels.

  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792
    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 44,888
    I was fairly ill for periods during my GCSE's (including an emergency operation), and I did quite well regardless. But I really, really mucked up my A-levels. In part because I still had a few health problems, but mainly because I had worn myself out mentally in my GCSEs. Then I left my degree early.

    You know what? I've done okay for myself despite all that. The poor A level results and not finishing my degree may have diverted my life somewhat, but I've had a good few decades since. Qualifications are important, but not as important as being a hard worker. Qualis can only get you in the door.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 11,334

    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

    The BoE have long been far softer than they should be. I think I remember a somewhat harder stance, perhaps much harder, in the 80s, but I'm not sure.

    Anyway they'll wave through most things these days. The BoE and everybody else that pays attention has long worked out that the whole sandcastle is what it is. Sandcastle isn't the right metaphor though - it's more bonfire-dwelling bamboo fort.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    rcs1000 said:

    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,849
    MaxPB said:

    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
    Raw talent.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063
    RobD said:

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Good.

    Maybe we'd all like to be back in a world where ministers didn't release these things before speaking to the House, but those times aren't coming back and everyone knows it, so performative outrage by Speakers, however sincerely felt in defence of the House, is now just annoying and looks pathetic.

    This isn't one of those cases where fighting the trend will stop it, so it's time to move on.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,051
    Foxy said:

    I still publish bits of research but not much of it really matters and I find it rarely quoted. Indeed my worst paper is the most heavily cited, mostly by people saying what bollocks it is.
    Lol. Got to love the cold hard honesty of this!

    Chapeau!
  • MaxPB said:

    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
    Humble brag.....
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,051

    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,269
    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,471
    Omnium said:

    The BoE have long been far softer than they should be. I think I remember a somewhat harder stance, perhaps much harder, in the 80s, but I'm not sure.

    Anyway they'll wave through most things these days. The BoE and everybody else that pays attention has long worked out that the whole sandcastle is what it is. Sandcastle isn't the right metaphor though - it's more bonfire-dwelling bamboo fort.
    Funny how all those huge inflation-busting triple lock pension increases were A-OK.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,608
    ...
    TimS said:

    The question is what do these agitators want? What would they have liked to happen? Because I doubt that anything reasonable the police could have said or done would have sated their appetite.

    Let’s been honest, given their and others’ messages during the riots. They would have liked the Police to name the murderer as a terrorist, to clearly state his race, to go easy on the rioters and those inciting violence online - perhaps just shrug it off as people blowing off steam. But that wouldn’t be enough. Nothing short of some sort of mass deportation would be enough, because what they want is - to echo some rhetoric that’s made its way on to this site in the last 24 hours - “not to see too many black or brown faces”. Yes, a poster actually wrote that last night, on here.

    That’s the game Goodwin is playing. It’s also the pool Jenrick is dipping his toes into, whether out of ideology or cynicism. PB recently suggests to me that there’s a market for it even amongst people with, to channel another of this evening’s topics, decent A Levels.

    A great final paragraph.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,849
    KnightOut said:


    Said it before, I know, but I got an A in my English Lit. A level without properly reading any of the set books.

    This destroyed whatever residual faith I may have had in teachers and teaching.

    I'd estimate ~98% of everything I ever learned was picked up outside the so-called Education System.
    I think it's easier to get an A in English Lit if you don't read the set books, because then you've memorized the correct criticism without having it polluted by any actual knowledge of the text.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,787

    I think I've taken a cold hard cost-benefit analysis approach to any work I've done my whole life. Unless it's something I genuinely love like politics or steam railways. Or, for that matter, military history.

    The minute they develop a Battle Train with a battering ram and Big Gunz, you are off... :)
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    rcs1000 said:

    Raw talent.
    I'd say luck is probably closer to the truth. Also self teaching C++ and C# was probably the best thing I did at university, it meant I got a 2:2 because I didn't pay any attention to my course but after my degree it opened up a world jobs I'd never even imagined and being self taught definitely put me a step above the grads because I'd had to figure it all out myself rather than be spoonfed which meant I did well in the problem solving bits of interview processes.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 11,334
    edited October 2024

    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.

    Stop fondling the students Professor OLB!
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,001
    kjh said:

    Hmmmmm what? What do you think the issue is? Home Secretary and Mayor believe extra protection needed following Austrian terrorist issue. Police disagree. Home Secretary and Mayor get their way, possibly under pressure from Swift's team. Seems normal stuff.

    What new conspiracy are you trying to spread now?
    Are we sure Taylor Swift was threatened by a terrorist in Austria or someone with mental health issues? I guess our gov would know without doubt I suppose.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063
    rcs1000 said:

    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    A monopoly on the use of violence is one of the key powers of most (stable) states, I should think.

    And given what happens when governments don't have such a monopoly it seems less that people have a problem with the monopoly, just an argument about it's extent.

    Like that absolutely moronic expression about the most terrifying words about being from the government and being there to help (moronic when treated literally at least).
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,849
    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,680

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    A couple both working maximum (48) hours in FT employment on minimum wage (12.21) once the rise has taken effect will earn (gross) £61K. Which is great but also has interesting effects and pressures on the employment market. I think.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,339

    Many of the reports from COVID times, that officials found it very difficult to get him to understand what were quite simple things, such that they had to dumb everything down.
    Do we know what grades he got?
  • kle4 said:

    Good.

    Maybe we'd all like to be back in a world where ministers didn't release these things before speaking to the House, but those times aren't coming back and everyone knows it, so performative outrage by Speakers, however sincerely felt in defence of the House, is now just annoying and looks pathetic.

    This isn't one of those cases where fighting the trend will stop it, so it's time to move on.
    Apparently Starmer is rewriting the ministerial code and the government was challenged today in the house to make it legally binding

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063

    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.

    Higher School Certificate?
  • TimS said:

    Funny how all those huge inflation-busting triple lock pension increases were A-OK.
    Not sure they are - they all contribute to inflation
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
    I already have. Haven’t you?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,690
    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,243
    Trump's chance of winning electoral college:
    - 538: 53%
    - Nate Silver: 54%
    - Betfair: 65%

    So the models project a coin toss with a slight Trump bias, while the betting market make Trump almost twice as likely to win as Harris.

    It is a very significant divergence.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063

    Apparently Starmer is rewriting the ministerial code and the government was challenged today in the house to make it legally binding

    Well that's just dumb - long overabused the rule might be, the flexibility on how to do things is part and parcel of how our institutions function. You see it all the time when people try to write new rulebooks, being way too proscriptive and trying to cover every single eventuality, try to procedure everything into oblivion.

    If they were to try to make it legally binding there'd be so many caveats and exceptions needed to be built into it it would be a confusing and absurd mess.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,051

    I already have. Haven’t you?
    I sent cash.
  • @TimS can you link this post? That's shocking to see overt racism on this board now.

    Things really have descended. Sad.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 11,334
    MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    My bladder has long encouraged the half.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,347
    rcs1000 said:

    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.

    Wahay. I'm off to spend my Harris WH24 winnings. See you all later.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,202
    MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    I've been ready for that ever since my first trip to Scandinavia.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,063
    edited October 2024
    Ratters said:

    Trump's chance of winning electoral college:
    - 538: 53%
    - Nate Silver: 54%
    - Betfair: 65%

    So the models project a coin toss with a slight Trump bias, while the betting market make Trump almost twice as likely to win as Harris.

    It is a very significant divergence.

    I've seen more optimism from previously cautious Dems online in recent days, but if the poll aggregators are to be believed such an increase on optimism is not based on anything.

    So I hope they are just overcorrecting for previous Trump underestimates.
  • Which isn't what you were saying not long ago when you were demanding that employers be able to bring in people on minimum wage into the country to evade pay rises to fill vacancies.

    Specifically you said local hospitality couldn't fill vacancies unless people were allowed to migrate on the existing minimum wage rather than put up wages.
    When did I say that then?
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,339
    algarkirk said:

    A couple both working maximum (48) hours in FT employment on minimum wage (12.21) once the rise has taken effect will earn (gross) £61K. Which is great but also has interesting effects and pressures on the employment market. I think.
    That's good if they can both achieve a min wage job for 48 hours. On the good side they would be paying a lot of tax and Ni, and will probably have given up any in work benefits.

  • MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    It's already getting on for £9 in some places in London. Not places I go to often but it's there.

    Although at my local corner shop I can get pint cans still for £1.50. So I often go there now.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,608
    rcs1000 said:

    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.

    Is his methodology the tried and trusted technique of throwing half a dozen playing cards in the air and those that land face up give us the Trump lead?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,269
    kle4 said:

    Higher School Certificate?
    6 Highers, 3 CSYS, all at A.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,792

    I sent cash.
    A somewhat gauche and vulgar gift. I’d have expected better from you.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,202

    Is his methodology the tried and trusted technique of throwing half a dozen playing cards in the air and those that land face up give us the Trump lead?
    I didn't realise it was that scientific.
  • Frankly I think people writing off SKS at this point are incredibly naïve. You could have taken these posts and transplanted them back to 2020/2021 when people were saying Johnson would be PM for a decade. I think only @Anabobazina and myself were saying otherwise.

    Of course I also thought Jezza would win in 2019 so...
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,347
    edited October 2024
    AAA

    (old money)
This discussion has been closed.