Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
You mean, it’s Manchester’s level of awfulness?
I very nearly missed a plane once in Manchester due to the epic queues. They held the plane for me whilst I ran thru the endless bloody corridors trying to stop my trousers from falling down because I took my belt off to get thru the scanner.
BBC to launch reality show to find new 15 mins of fame desperados
Sadiq Khan wants to introduce hotel tourist tax
Haringey to charge larger cars more to park.
Any more for any more?
We should definitely tax airbnbs heavily, less fussed about hotels. Car parking for bigger cars not lunacy either, but probably much easier just to continue further increases on road taxes to disincentivise them. Couldn't care less about TV I don't watch, but if other people enjoy it let them!
If you tax large vehicles, what about vehicles for disabled people who require a large vehicle for their wheelchair?
Something more cheering. As I walked out of my beachside villa last night I saw this
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
Looks like a 22 degree halo. Not terribly rare but given it is caused by ice crystals, it can't be that common in the tropics.
Seen plenty here, mostly winter.
There used to be a really good website on this but sadly it seems to have been taken over by AI bots, so you'll have to make do with Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22°_halo
However I’m slightly skeptical this is caused by ice crystals? This is on a very hot tropical island beach
During the day it hit 34C
But maybe you’re right. Looking back the last moonbow that I witnessed was much more like a rainbow. An arc over land and with obvious gradations in hue
Freezing level would be about 5000m ish so any cirrus above that should be cold enough.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
We've mentioned that Democrats might find common ground with some of Robert F Kennedy Jr's policies. Now, let's hear from Jared Polis, the Democrat governor of Colorado.
Speaking on X, the former House representative says Kennedy will "help make America healthy again by shaking up [Department of Health and Human Services] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration]".
Polis cites some of RFK Jr's promises, like capping prescription drug prices, cutting certain FDA departments, and moving away from "pesticide-intensive agriculture", as reasons for his excitement.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
BBC to launch reality show to find new 15 mins of fame desperados
Sadiq Khan wants to introduce hotel tourist tax
Haringey to charge larger cars more to park.
Any more for any more?
We should definitely tax airbnbs heavily, less fussed about hotels. Car parking for bigger cars not lunacy either, but probably much easier just to continue further increases on road taxes to disincentivise them. Couldn't care less about TV I don't watch, but if other people enjoy it let them!
If you tax large vehicles, what about vehicles for disabled people who require a large vehicle for their wheelchair?
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
How about whipping up anti vax sentiments in Samoa? Or continuing to peddle the MMR jab lies. I actually think that RFK makes a lot of good points about US public health which is in a shocking state but his anti vax sentiments are beyond the pale.
Yeah absolutely. There's plenty of saner public health advocates than him that Trump could have appointed if he was serious about doing something beneficial and radical.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Yep, already pretty sick of hearing from the self-centred minority of Brit fanbois who can't even vote for the walking cesspit. I do get a laugh from the idea that these folk are infused with love and concern for their fellow citizens though.
There are two sorts of people who like the populist right (in which I obviously include Donald Trump):
1) People who are genuinely keen on and aligned to the populist right agenda. 2) People who really dislike certain aspects of the modern left, for whom a win for the populist right looks like a bigger kick in the arse for the left than a win for the more old-fashioned right.
I suspect many of the people who allow themselves a frisson of joy about Trump's victory (particularly from this side of the Atlantic) are actually in group 2 rather than group 1, and would actually raise some serious concerns were a British equivalent attempting to put in place a similar agenda here.
How was Gabbard ever a Democrat? She just strikes me as a total grifter.
The 2 aren't mutually exclusive. Though "I'm a total grifter" is something you put in bold all caps at the top of your job application to Trump, rather than keeping quiet about it
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Yep, already pretty sick of hearing from the self-centred minority of Brit fanbois who can't even vote for the walking cesspit. I do get a laugh from the idea that these folk are infused with love and concern for their fellow citizens though.
There are two sorts of people who like the populist right (in which I obviously include Donald Trump):
1) People who are genuinely keen on and aligned to the populist right agenda. 2) People who really dislike certain aspects of the modern left, for whom a win for the populist right looks like a bigger kick in the arse for the left than a win for the more old-fashioned right.
I suspect many of the people who allow themselves a frisson of joy about Trump's victory (particularly from this side of the Atlantic) are actually in group 2 rather than group 1, and would actually raise some serious concerns were a British equivalent attempting to put in place a similar agenda here.
The global billionaire elite aren't going to stop at the borders. We are next. Enjoy the ride.
While some fret over America (maybe it's easier to look at the ills of others), in the last few weeks here:
Unemployment went from 4% to 4.3% (4.5% if looking at September alone) Growth was half the expected level in Q3 (September was negative) Mortgage rates are rising while interest rates are falling Energy bills went up 10% (where's my £300?) Council tax bills will go up by 3 times current level of inflation UK 10 year gilts are more than 15% higher than they were mid-September
Not a pretty picture.
Decent chance of 5%+ unemployment, a recession, inflation above 2% target and wage increases below inflation in 2025. Reeves having to come back with more measures.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
Much of politics is transactional. You back my policy, I back yours.
This is, like most of Trumpism, taken to an extreme with MAGA.
But the thing with Trump-ites is, can they be trusted to keep their end of a deal?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Really? You could accuse some Labour ministers as being mediocre or wrong but can you specify which you consider to be a crackpot or a fool?
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
That quick.
😁 See my post of a few days ago re More or Less. It takes 3 minutes to turn a tanker around. Great programme, if only for moments like this.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Yep, already pretty sick of hearing from the self-centred minority of Brit fanbois who can't even vote for the walking cesspit. I do get a laugh from the idea that these folk are infused with love and concern for their fellow citizens though.
There are two sorts of people who like the populist right (in which I obviously include Donald Trump):
1) People who are genuinely keen on and aligned to the populist right agenda. 2) People who really dislike certain aspects of the modern left, for whom a win for the populist right looks like a bigger kick in the arse for the left than a win for the more old-fashioned right.
I suspect many of the people who allow themselves a frisson of joy about Trump's victory (particularly from this side of the Atlantic) are actually in group 2 rather than group 1, and would actually raise some serious concerns were a British equivalent attempting to put in place a similar agenda here.
Story that was new to me, from the Orign Story podcast on AI.
The AI boffins were training their AI on a video game that simulated boat races...
The goal of the game—as understood by most humans—is to finish the boat race quickly and (preferably) ahead of other players. CoastRunners does not directly reward the player’s progression around the course, instead the player earns higher scores by hitting targets laid out along the route.
The AI worked out that it was way more efficient to find an area with three convenient targets that it could just loop round hitting those targets again and again.
Despite repeatedly catching on fire, crashing into other boats, and going the wrong way on the track, our agent manages to achieve a higher score using this strategy than is possible by completing the course in the normal way.
I think there's a model for what the new right populists have done. Find a loophole that lets them win by not playing the game everyone else thinks they are playing. Well done them, of course, it's within the rules. The catch is that the game (holding power) is only really a proxy for reality (running a government), so success on the proxy scale becomes even more decoupled from success on the reality scale. If they were ever that coupled in the first place.
Of course, if all you believe in is power, that doesn't matter.
We've mentioned that Democrats might find common ground with some of Robert F Kennedy Jr's policies. Now, let's hear from Jared Polis, the Democrat governor of Colorado.
Speaking on X, the former House representative says Kennedy will "help make America healthy again by shaking up [Department of Health and Human Services] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration]".
Polis cites some of RFK Jr's promises, like capping prescription drug prices, cutting certain FDA departments, and moving away from "pesticide-intensive agriculture", as reasons for his excitement.
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
You mean, it’s Manchester’s level of awfulness?
I very nearly missed a plane once in Manchester due to the epic queues. They held the plane for me whilst I ran thru the endless bloody corridors trying to stop my trousers from falling down because I took my belt off to get thru the scanner.
R U from New York?
(I've never understood this event, unless it's an American "half-way but can't quite make it" thing. It's called the Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride, and has been running since 2002. @rcs1000 ?)
I wasn't aware of that, so there we have solid factual evidence of why RFK Jr as Health Secretary is a serious threat to global health. Anyone got any solid factual evidence where he's prevented deaths?
Didn’t he kill a bear? That might have prevented the loss of life…
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Only if you're an illiterate fool who doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'totalitarianism'
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Really? You could accuse some Labour ministers as being mediocre or wrong but can you specify which you consider to be a crackpot or a fool?
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
How would you deal with such things?
Good and fair question to which I have no immediate answer. I suspect four years of hard slog of doing hundreds of small things - appoint person X rather than known extremist person y; set guidance; see to it that guidance is being implemented; slap down lunatics in own party, and so on. Maybe SKS is planning on doing this. To be fair, it's too early for sure to say that he isn't.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
I don't feel "nutjob" is as accurate a descriptor as "child sex trafficker", but you do you.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
Since when has Musk been a representative of the US Government?
Since about 2-3 days ago when he was appointed one by the President-elect.
Not confirmed yet of course but he has been given a role and I believe (not sure) in this weird American window between the election and inauguration it is not unusual for those who have been appointed in waiting by the President-elect to start to get involved.
Labour now say they want a trade deal with the US.
Because they know it won't happen but if they say they don't want one it looks bad. There is no trade deal we would both agree to and could pass in the respective legislatures.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Really? You could accuse some Labour ministers as being mediocre or wrong but can you specify which you consider to be a crackpot or a fool?
David Lammy is a cretin
I don't think he is a 'cretin'. From what I've seen, he's fairly knowledgeable on many issues. It's just that when he has to speak outside those issues, or go outside his knowledge domain, his shortcomings become visible. All too often intelligent people seem utterly stupid when they confidently talk outside their knowledge domain. He also has issues on which he knows he is right, and tries to make reality fit his views. Which is very human.
IMV that doesn't make him very good ministerial material. But it also doesn't make him a cretin.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
The Ukraine the Latest Telegraph podcast (which to my ear is the one rational bit of the T I get to hear/see; there may be other rubies in the dust) is coming across as flabbergasted.
Slightly diappointed by the title - I was hoping for philososphy from Bart on why we are headed back into the dark ages .
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
What makes you believe that Gaetz isn't just part of a self-centred (rich) minority who covers his naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens?
Gaetz does give a fuck about some of his fellow citizens... well, at least if they're teen girls in need of money.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Reform need to look towards Trump at how to win. They need to look at the popularity Trump’s deportation plans and apply fo the million plus Tory travellers that revently came in under the Conservatives
Reducing immigration is no longer enough as the horse has bolted
You can’t trust Kemi to fix it for the same reason you couldn’t trust Fishy Rishi or Red Ed
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
And do you agree with him when he said, "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are the most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese ... we don't know whether it's deliberately targeted or not." ?
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
Labour now say they want a trade deal with the US.
Interesting. I've thought for a while that Sir Keir was determined to become the PM who finally 'got Brexit done'. It would reconnect Labour with the Red Wall and sap the morale of the British Right, who'd only really be left with culture conflicts to argue about. Sir Keir is looking like the Labour leader the Tories should fear.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Not taking vaccines doesn't just affect you and your children. It affects others as well.
Shortly before Covid arrived there was an increase in mumps in this country. My daughter - who had been vaccinated - got it and was really very ill. The GP had to report it because there had been an increase and the authorities were monitoring it. Then Covid came and I expect it got forgotten.
When I was expecting my third child one of my son's school friends who had been visiting the house regularly told he had not been vaccinated. I was furious at his mother putting me and my unborn child at risk.
Idiots can harm their own health if they want but when they start to harm others .....
A Medical question if I may.
So in this case your daughter getting it was luck of the draw as one of the small number of occasions (or people?) when the vaccine fails to provide protection?
(Clearly, herd immunity would have helped more than the ~90% vaccine effectiveness had everyone had it.)
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Really? You could accuse some Labour ministers as being mediocre or wrong but can you specify which you consider to be a crackpot or a fool?
David Lammy is a cretin
Labour WON. The centre left is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
I don’t think even @SeanT costs £800 million to be sent to Botswana?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
This chap, Covert Cabal, counts Russian tanks and guns in storage from satellite photographs.
He did an interesting little summary survey video on progress from a few days ago. Many of them are empty now, and they are consolidating what is left.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
I don’t think even @SeanT costs £800 million to be sent to Botswana?
The new government estimated that the old government had spent £700 million in total on the Rwanda scheme.
I believe that the preferred term is 'disruption'.
Choosing to be these people's lab rat was an interesting choice, Americans voted for it and now they must take the consequences. If they are very, very, lucky they may get a chance to choose again in the future but that is far from certain. Representative government is so old-hat.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
This chap, Covert Cabal, counts Russian tanks and guns in storage from satellite photographs.
He did an interesting little summary survey video on progress from a few days ago. Many of them are empty now, and they are consolidating what is left.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
On US election night, I posited that the ruble to US dollar rate was one to watch. My expectation was that a Trump win would see the ruble strengthen. Instead, to my surprise, it has further weakened, after a temporary upwards blip.
It's believed that Russia has been spending a great deal of money propping up the exchange rate. I wonder if they have given up, or it is still within an acceptable range?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
I think the Senate can prevent this. It would certainly diminish the Senate's power if they allowed it
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
This chap, Covert Cabal, counts Russian tanks and guns in storage from satellite photographs.
He did an interesting little summary survey video on progress from a few days ago. Many of them are empty now, and they are consolidating what is left.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
I don’t think even @SeanT costs £800 million to be sent to Botswana?
The new government estimated that the old government had spent £700 million in total on the Rwanda scheme.
How much of that was due to cockblocking by the 3rd sector and activist Liberal-Left, though?
Once resolved the cost per head would have dropped dramatically. It just never got there.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
This chap, Covert Cabal, counts Russian tanks and guns in storage from satellite photographs.
He did an interesting little summary survey video on progress from a few days ago. Many of them are empty now, and they are consolidating what is left.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
On US election night, I posited that the ruble to US dollar rate was one to watch. My expectation was that a Trump win would see the ruble strengthen. Instead, to my surprise, it has further weakened, after a temporary upwards blip.
It's believed that Russia has been spending a great deal of money propping up the exchange rate. I wonder if they have given up, or it is still within an acceptable range?
Article says head of Russian Central Bank Governor has managed the situation well to date, given the cards she has been dealt. So, I'm guessing the latter??
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
I think the Senate can prevent this. It would certainly diminish the Senate's power if they allowed it
The Senate will nod everything through, just like they did with his judicial appointments. The House Republicans these last two years have shown the way that moderates continually flake when faced with having to choose between unity and their principles. And that was without a ferocious Trump and his mob weighing in (or much less so).
Romney might hold out. He's old, rich, has an unusually large personal vote in Utah, an unusually high willingness to vote with his conscience* and could retire in 2026 (by when he'll be 79) without loss of face. But there are few others with the scope and inclination for that kind of independence. And it'd need four.
* Though he voted to confirm Gorsuch, so there are limits and they're only high in relative terms.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
On US election night, I posited that the ruble to US dollar rate was one to watch. My expectation was that a Trump win would see the ruble strengthen. Instead, to my surprise, it has further weakened, after a temporary upwards blip.
It's believed that Russia has been spending a great deal of money propping up the exchange rate. I wonder if they have given up, or it is still within an acceptable range?
It's a ludicrous waste of hard currency if that is the case, when the Kremlin could put that cash to much better use.
In any case, as someone once said, you can't buck the markets. Putin's war, and war spending, is very inflationary. That will make itself felt in prices and in the exchange rate. You can battle against it for a while but ultimately the fundamentals will win out.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
I don’t think even @SeanT costs £800 million to be sent to Botswana?
The new government estimated that the old government had spent £700 million in total on the Rwanda scheme.
How much of that was due to cockblocking by the 3rd sector and activist Liberal-Left, though?
Once resolved the cost per head would have dropped dramatically. It just never got there.
Because of the cockblocking.
That rather falls foul of the reality that the initial capacity was limited to 200, and that the claimed "rapid scale up" was a little problematic because Rwanda is a country modestly larger than Wales with a population of 13 million.
Sending them somewhere tiny, which is even fuller than we are, in penny packets, is strange logic.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
That was when they might reasonably have thought that Trump was finished. At the very least, it was when they knew they had four years off. Not now.
I think the pendulum on the left has already swung back to be honest.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
I'd like to think so - but it takes a long, long time to turn the tanker around, and the government have done nothing to turn the dial; they just haven't turned it any further. There are still any number of identity politics and pro-immigration things happening. The identarian left is still there throughout the public sector and public-sector-adjacent-sector - it may not be getting further encouragement but nor is it getting any discouragement.
It’s also palpably not true
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
We could spend another £800m to find 4 volunteers to travel to Botswana, but I don't really see the point?
I don’t think even @SeanT costs £800 million to be sent to Botswana?
The new government estimated that the old government had spent £700 million in total on the Rwanda scheme.
How much of that was due to cockblocking by the 3rd sector and activist Liberal-Left, though?
Once resolved the cost per head would have dropped dramatically. It just never got there.
Because of the cockblocking.
Let's not ask why you're so keen to keep writing "cockblocking"...
Yes, the cost per head would obviously have dropped. But, you know, the Conservatives had 14 years to get this right and didn't, and got chucked out as a result.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
I think the Senate can prevent this. It would certainly diminish the Senate's power if they allowed it
The Senate will nod everything through, just like they did with his judicial appointments. The House Republicans these last two years have shown the way that moderates continually flake when faced with having to choose between unity and their principles. And that was without a ferocious Trump and his mob weighing in (or much less so).
Romney might hold out. He's old, rich, has an unusually large personal vote in Utah, an unusually high willingness to vote with his conscience* and could retire in 2026 (by when he'll be 79) without loss of face. But there are few others with the scope and inclination for that kind of independence. And it'd need four.
* Though he voted to confirm Gorsuch, so there are limits and they're only high in relative terms.
Collins and Murkowski I could see voting down some of these appointees.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
I think the Senate can prevent this. It would certainly diminish the Senate's power if they allowed it
The Senate will nod everything through, just like they did with his judicial appointments. The House Republicans these last two years have shown the way that moderates continually flake when faced with having to choose between unity and their principles. And that was without a ferocious Trump and his mob weighing in (or much less so).
Romney might hold out. He's old, rich, has an unusually large personal vote in Utah, an unusually high willingness to vote with his conscience* and could retire in 2026 (by when he'll be 79) without loss of face. But there are few others with the scope and inclination for that kind of independence. And it'd need four.
* Though he voted to confirm Gorsuch, so there are limits and they're only high in relative terms.
Collins and Murkowski I could see voting down some of these appointees.
Reject a token one or two is my bet. But none more likely than 3+.
Alex Wickham @alexwickham · 22m Exclusive: The UK military and police use Chinese drones made by a firm that’s been sanctioned for arming Russia in its war in Ukraine
Just 3 weeks ago John Healey and Rachel Reeves were photographed flying now-banned Autel drones at a British Army base
Not taking vaccines doesn't just affect you and your children. It affects others as well.
Shortly before Covid arrived there was an increase in mumps in this country. My daughter - who had been vaccinated - got it and was really very ill. The GP had to report it because there had been an increase and the authorities were monitoring it. Then Covid came and I expect it got forgotten.
When I was expecting my third child one of my son's school friends who had been visiting the house regularly told he had not been vaccinated. I was furious at his mother putting me and my unborn child at risk.
Idiots can harm their own health if they want but when they start to harm others .....
In the UK, smallpox vaccination was made compulsory for children in 1853.
The Leicester Anti-Vaccination League was founded in 1867 but I'm pretty sure there was a London one that pre-dated it.
In 1892 smallpox duly returned and 144 people in Warrington alone died from it.
The MMR vaccine rate seems consistently just below 90% for 1 year olds and not much better at aged 5
In London, less than 75% of 5 year olds have had a second dose of MMR.
Some of the differences by local authority seem almost inexplicable by race or poverty.
But this is an interesting short edition of the Daily T podcast about Alison Pearson's "non-crime hate incident" problem where she was doorstepped by the police over a tweet someone had complained about.
To their credit there is homework leading to analysis dating the process back to 1993 (ie John Major's time) when there was no system in place which would have warned in advance the actions of the men who ended up killing Stephen Lawrence. Said system, like Topsy, Growed - especially in Blair's time through to the present.
Also to their credit is that they note that the presenting problem is that a middle class white journalist has had the same experience that other groups have been having on occasions for many years.
Less good is that they frame it narrowly as a political partisanship ("Starmer") question and around "woke" / the current "free speech" shibboleth rather than about civil rights, civil society and overdone police procedure - which cluster of issues many of us have been working on for up to 25 years (eg "I'm a Photographer not a Terrorist"). So they are digging themselves deeper into their echo chamber rather than addressing the underlying causes - eg I have not seen Allison Pearson on media much beyond GB News, but I could have missed it.
Fascinating article on state of Russia's War Economy. Putin faces huge problems if a Trump peace deal ends the fighting and he faces huge problems if it doesn't.
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
Perhaps we should prepare for Trump giving Putin his frozen conflict on the current lines and then Russia becoming very destabilised as the economy can't adjust to "peace"??
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Well, I've just spent a week in London, and things have definitely improved this year. Previously, the homeless mentally ill heroin and crystal meth addicts were all over Covent Garden and Shaftesbury Avenue. Now they are nowhere to be seen.
England beat Greece 3-0.
And I don't think I've seen restaurants and pubs more full.
Are you sure you're not engaging in a little bit of seeing what you want to see?
Alex Wickham @alexwickham · 22m Exclusive: The UK military and police use Chinese drones made by a firm that’s been sanctioned for arming Russia in its war in Ukraine
Just 3 weeks ago John Healey and Rachel Reeves were photographed flying now-banned Autel drones at a British Army base
This is a scandal.
I am sure we only used English drones made in Coventry before July 5th.
(Neither David Cameron nor Jeremy Clarkson actually live in the ward. Still funny though.)
One of my bonkers stats from election night was every seat held by every Tory leader from Michael Howard to Liz Truss inclusive were lost by the Tories.
Alex Wickham @alexwickham · 22m Exclusive: The UK military and police use Chinese drones made by a firm that’s been sanctioned for arming Russia in its war in Ukraine
Just 3 weeks ago John Healey and Rachel Reeves were photographed flying now-banned Autel drones at a British Army base
Given that they were only sanctioned last week, it's a bit of a not-a-story - though highlights the issue of ubiquity of Chinese drones quite well.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
Much of politics is transactional. You back my policy, I back yours.
This is, like most of Trumpism, taken to an extreme with MAGA.
But the thing with Trump-ites is, can they be trusted to keep their end of a deal?
Since Trump's history is stiffing people who thought they had a deal/contract with him, unless Trump-ites are more virtuous than their godhead the answer is no.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
Which quote perfectly captures the Labour government - and indeed most left wing governments (such as remain) in the west
Really? You could accuse some Labour ministers as being mediocre or wrong but can you specify which you consider to be a crackpot or a fool?
David Lammy is a cretin
Oh come on. There's plenty of ministers (according to political persuasion) that we think are terrible in their role or delivering misguided policies. That's the nature of politics. They're not crackpots in the sense of that quote or in the same vein as appointing Matt Gaetz. You have to recognise a difference.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Well, I've just spent a week in London, and things have definitely improved this year. Previously, the homeless mentally ill heroin and crystal meth addicts were all over Covent Garden and Shaftesbury Avenue. Now they are nowhere to be seen.
England beat Greece 3-0.
And I don't think I've seen restaurants and pubs more full.
Are you sure you're not engaging in a little bit of seeing what you want to see?
He's never here to see it.
However does Leon need to see it? If he imagined it, whatever "it" is must be true.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
It's a kind of win-win-win. He gets his kind of people into position, he gets distractions, he humiliates the Senate/if they reject his nominees he can blame the deep state and RINOs for everything that goes wrong.
He might allow them one scalp, for form's sake. (If so, I predict Gaetz.) Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
Senate Republicans just annoyed Trump by picking Thune as Senate leader, admittedly in a secret ballot.
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
Isn't he going to appointment them all during the recess?
He is going to try to appoint them all during the recess. It is unclear whether this will work or what will happen.
I think the Senate can prevent this. It would certainly diminish the Senate's power if they allowed it
The Senate will nod everything through, just like they did with his judicial appointments. The House Republicans these last two years have shown the way that moderates continually flake when faced with having to choose between unity and their principles. And that was without a ferocious Trump and his mob weighing in (or much less so).
Romney might hold out. He's old, rich, has an unusually large personal vote in Utah, an unusually high willingness to vote with his conscience* and could retire in 2026 (by when he'll be 79) without loss of face. But there are few others with the scope and inclination for that kind of independence. And it'd need four.
* Though he voted to confirm Gorsuch, so there are limits and they're only high in relative terms.
Collins and Murkowski I could see voting down some of these appointees.
Possible. But even if they and Romney do, that's still a confirmation off Vance's casting vote. However, I wouldn't stake too much on it.
Not taking vaccines doesn't just affect you and your children. It affects others as well.
Shortly before Covid arrived there was an increase in mumps in this country. My daughter - who had been vaccinated - got it and was really very ill. The GP had to report it because there had been an increase and the authorities were monitoring it. Then Covid came and I expect it got forgotten.
When I was expecting my third child one of my son's school friends who had been visiting the house regularly told he had not been vaccinated. I was furious at his mother putting me and my unborn child at risk.
Idiots can harm their own health if they want but when they start to harm others .....
A Medical question if I may.
So in this case your daughter getting it was luck of the draw as one of the small number of occasions (or people?) when the vaccine fails to provide protection?
(Clearly, herd immunity would have helped more than the ~90% vaccine effectiveness had everyone had it.)
They would also not have had the measles vaccination. Anyone contacting measles is likely to have most of their acquire immune memory wiped out. Because that's one of the things measles does.
WRT the July-Sept growth figures; net migration in 2024 is likely to be around 400,000 - it may be more of course but not much less - which is over 0.5% of the population. A growth rate of 0.1% is, per head, a decline, not an increase. It is quite misleading for reports (BBC for example) not to factor this in.
Britain is getting obviously and provabky poorer per head day by day. You can actually SEE it
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Well, I've just spent a week in London, and things have definitely improved this year. Previously, the homeless mentally ill heroin and crystal meth addicts were all over Covent Garden and Shaftesbury Avenue. Now they are nowhere to be seen.
England beat Greece 3-0.
And I don't think I've seen restaurants and pubs more full.
Are you sure you're not engaging in a little bit of seeing what you want to see?
He's never here to see it.
However does Leon need to see it? If he imagined it, whatever "it" is must be true.
Not sure it's true about pubs sadly, my regular Friday night haunts are nothing like as busy as they were pre-(or even during) Covid. Maybe it's no longer a Friday night or the crowd has moved to another area, but very rarely have to wait at the bar because it's busy, now it's because the competent bar staff have gone.
Comments
Bill Kristol
@BillKristol
·
12h
IT IS AS BAD AS WE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE. ACTUALLY, WORSE.
https://x.com/BillKristol/status/1857175742599319960
I'd leave, but I'm not there to start with.
She was something of a political oddball from the start.
Depends whether or not they show a scintilla of spine.
I'd bet almost all get confirmed.
1) People who are genuinely keen on and aligned to the populist right agenda.
2) People who really dislike certain aspects of the modern left, for whom a win for the populist right looks like a bigger kick in the arse for the left than a win for the more old-fashioned right.
I suspect many of the people who allow themselves a frisson of joy about Trump's victory (particularly from this side of the Atlantic) are actually in group 2 rather than group 1, and would actually raise some serious concerns were a British equivalent attempting to put in place a similar agenda here.
Unemployment went from 4% to 4.3% (4.5% if looking at September alone)
Growth was half the expected level in Q3 (September was negative)
Mortgage rates are rising while interest rates are falling
Energy bills went up 10% (where's my £300?)
Council tax bills will go up by 3 times current level of inflation
UK 10 year gilts are more than 15% higher than they were mid-September
Not a pretty picture.
Decent chance of 5%+ unemployment, a recession, inflation above 2% target and wage increases below inflation in 2025. Reeves having to come back with more measures.
Amazing.
Identity politics and being pro immigration are basically over as far as I can see.
Labour has not done a single identity politics or pro immigration thing since coming to office that I can see.
😁 See my post of a few days ago re More or Less. It takes 3 minutes to turn a tanker around. Great programme, if only for moments like this.
https://openai.com/index/faulty-reward-functions/
The AI boffins were training their AI on a video game that simulated boat races...
The goal of the game—as understood by most humans—is to finish the boat race quickly and (preferably) ahead of other players. CoastRunners does not directly reward the player’s progression around the course, instead the player earns higher scores by hitting targets laid out along the route.
The AI worked out that it was way more efficient to find an area with three convenient targets that it could just loop round hitting those targets again and again.
Despite repeatedly catching on fire, crashing into other boats, and going the wrong way on the track, our agent manages to achieve a higher score using this strategy than is possible by completing the course in the normal way.
I think there's a model for what the new right populists have done. Find a loophole that lets them win by not playing the game everyone else thinks they are playing. Well done them, of course, it's within the rules. The catch is that the game (holding power) is only really a proxy for reality (running a government), so success on the proxy scale becomes even more decoupled from success on the reality scale. If they were ever that coupled in the first place.
Of course, if all you believe in is power, that doesn't matter.
Replacement with cheap imports?
(I've never understood this event, unless it's an American "half-way but can't quite make it" thing. It's called the Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride, and has been running since 2002. @rcs1000 ?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceBYPtFewFQ
Maybe SKS is planning on doing this. To be fair, it's too early for sure to say that he isn't.
Indeed having visited London many times I have not driven in the City for 40 years plus
Labour has already done tons of pro migrant woke shit. Abolished the preference for Brits in council housing etc. Abandoned Rwanda and not attempted to replace it. And much else
They are still merrily paddling the national kayak forward through the rapids marked “from here on a Reform government - or something far worse - is just beyond the next waterfall”
Not confirmed yet of course but he has been given a role and I believe (not sure) in this weird American window between the election and inauguration it is not unusual for those who have been appointed in waiting by the President-elect to start to get involved.
IMV that doesn't make him very good ministerial material. But it also doesn't make him a cretin.
If it did, you could also be classed as a cretin.
And still the migrants flood in. I despair. We are on course for a hideous explosion of anger
Reducing immigration is no longer enough as the horse has bolted
You can’t trust Kemi to fix it for the same reason you couldn’t trust Fishy Rishi or Red Ed
"At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons."
"Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. "
"Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges."
Free to read:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/11/14/russia-war-putin-economy-weapons-production-labor-shortage-demographics/
I think there are 4 Republican senators still in office who voted to convict Trump in 2020, plus a handful of others who might be expected to defy him from time to time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more than 1 nominee being rejected by the Senate.
So in this case your daughter getting it was luck of the draw as one of the small number of occasions (or people?) when the vaccine fails to provide protection?
(Clearly, herd immunity would have helped more than the ~90% vaccine effectiveness had everyone had it.)
He did an interesting little summary survey video on progress from a few days ago. Many of them are empty now, and they are consolidating what is left.
Deep link to start of counting:
https://youtu.be/xKocGzNaZn8?t=117
Choosing to be these people's lab rat was an interesting choice, Americans voted for it and now they must take the consequences. If they are very, very, lucky they may get a chance to choose again in the future but that is far from certain. Representative government is so old-hat.
On US election night, I posited that the ruble to US dollar rate was one to watch. My expectation was that a Trump win would see the ruble strengthen. Instead, to my surprise, it has further weakened, after a temporary upwards blip.
https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/USDRUB/
It's believed that Russia has been spending a great deal of money propping up the exchange rate. I wonder if they have given up, or it is still within an acceptable range?
(Yes, the NK aid might help Russia 'win' the conflict. But having to use them is still far from a sign of strength.)
https://x.com/eu_commission/status/1857358452118446525
Once resolved the cost per head would have dropped dramatically. It just never got there.
Because of the cockblocking.
Some people might take the view that good governance is essential (to their reelection if nothing else)
Others will take the view that only blind subservience to the MAGA cult is essential (to their reelection if nothing else)
It is not immediately obvious which view is correct, or which will prevail
Romney might hold out. He's old, rich, has an unusually large personal vote in Utah, an unusually high willingness to vote with his conscience* and could retire in 2026 (by when he'll be 79) without loss of face. But there are few others with the scope and inclination for that kind of independence. And it'd need four.
* Though he voted to confirm Gorsuch, so there are limits and they're only high in relative terms.
In any case, as someone once said, you can't buck the markets. Putin's war, and war spending, is very inflationary. That will make itself felt in prices and in the exchange rate. You can battle against it for a while but ultimately the fundamentals will win out.
Sending them somewhere tiny, which is even fuller than we are, in penny packets, is strange logic.
Yes, the cost per head would obviously have dropped. But, you know, the Conservatives had 14 years to get this right and didn't, and got chucked out as a result.
@alexwickham
·
22m
Exclusive: The UK military and police use Chinese drones made by a firm that’s been sanctioned for arming Russia in its war in Ukraine
Just 3 weeks ago John Healey and Rachel Reeves were photographed flying now-banned Autel drones at a British Army base
The Leicester Anti-Vaccination League was founded in 1867 but I'm pretty sure there was a London one that pre-dated it.
In 1892 smallpox duly returned and 144 people in Warrington alone died from it.
The MMR vaccine rate seems consistently just below 90% for 1 year olds and not much better at aged 5
In London, less than 75% of 5 year olds have had a second dose of MMR.
Some of the differences by local authority seem almost inexplicable by race or poverty.
It's tragic.
But this is an interesting short edition of the Daily T podcast about Alison Pearson's "non-crime hate incident" problem where she was doorstepped by the police over a tweet someone had complained about.
To their credit there is homework leading to analysis dating the process back to 1993 (ie John Major's time) when there was no system in place which would have warned in advance the actions of the men who ended up killing Stephen Lawrence. Said system, like Topsy, Growed - especially in Blair's time through to the present.
Also to their credit is that they note that the presenting problem is that a middle class white journalist has had the same experience that other groups have been having on occasions for many years.
Less good is that they frame it narrowly as a political partisanship ("Starmer") question and around "woke" / the current "free speech" shibboleth rather than about civil rights, civil society and overdone police procedure - which cluster of issues many of us have been working on for up to 25 years (eg "I'm a Photographer not a Terrorist"). So they are digging themselves deeper into their echo chamber rather than addressing the underlying causes - eg I have not seen Allison Pearson on media much beyond GB News, but I could have missed it.
Worth a listen nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS3gNJTQILY
Perhaps we should prepare for Trump giving Putin his frozen conflict on the current lines and then Russia becoming very destabilised as the economy can't adjust to "peace"??
England beat Greece 3-0.
And I don't think I've seen restaurants and pubs more full.
Are you sure you're not engaging in a little bit of seeing what you want to see?
🔶 LDM: 31.3% (+24.6)
🌳 CON: 29.7% (+9.0)
🌹 LAB: 27.2% (-34.2)
🌍 GRN: 11.8% (+0.5)
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1857386483448971560
(Neither David Cameron nor Jeremy Clarkson actually live in the ward. Still funny though.)
I am sure we only used English drones made in Coventry before July 5th.
Full story:
https://archive.ph/2HS7V#selection-1743.0-1743.154
However does Leon need to see it? If he imagined it, whatever "it" is must be true.
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1857385989330616347?t=usfuy18AHq-295EZWTQ4cg&s=19
Because that's one of the things measles does.