Braverman set to defect to Reform (no, not that one, yet) – politicalbetting.com
EXC: Suella Braverman’s husband to defect to ReformAnd sources say they expect her to follow suit next yearhttps://t.co/kKcTwNyVVc
Comments
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God, I hate clickbait headlines.4
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If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?1
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That seems a narrow view.BatteryCorrectHorse said:If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?
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Could Badenoch (no, not that one) be next?0
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I think they can be up to 3.5m wide alreadyOmnium said:
That seems a narrow view.BatteryCorrectHorse said:If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?
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JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.3 -
I rather meant that SKS had more about him than a correct policy on masts. A happy misinterpretation that made me smile.BatteryCorrectHorse said:
I think they can be up to 3.5m wide alreadyOmnium said:
That seems a narrow view.BatteryCorrectHorse said:If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?
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This was posted without comment. Did you post it to demonstrate what an international statesman we have in future President Vance or what a plumb he is?williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.3 -
No limits on building. Wherever they are needed, MNOs should be allowed to build. Get our geographic and indoor coverage up.Omnium said:
I rather meant that SKS had more about him than a correct policy on masts. A happy misinterpretation that made me smile.BatteryCorrectHorse said:
I think they can be up to 3.5m wide alreadyOmnium said:
That seems a narrow view.BatteryCorrectHorse said:If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?
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I'm curious as to how others might judge the press coverage of the goings on in Syria.
So far it seems to me that of the sites I have access to that the 'Times' is covering it best.0 -
On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.0
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Well Ed Davey will have to sponge and press his trousers then.OldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
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It would take quite a few, unless they all went to the Lib Dems.OldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
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It's rather clever to have a foot in both camps by marriage. It reminds me of some clever royals (the name escapes me - Henry VII's mother?) who did the same in the Wars of the Roses. I could have that wrong - I am not a mediaevalist.2
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Braverman herself may follow her husband into Reform but beyond the hardest liners of the ERG I can't see many others following unless Reform started to get a clear lead over the Tories and Labour in the polls. Rees Mogg declared himself a Tory to his fingerprints for starters last week and he is the Messiah of the Tory right now.
In any case Reform is now eating into the Labour white working class now, the Tory vote is as it was in July still or slightly up.
The Tory voters still voting Tory are more middle class and soft Leave rather than hard Leave and less likely to gaze in lust at Farage0 -
Not if those defections to Reform were followed by Reform winning said by elections not the LDsOldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
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You should have just gone for “Braverman defects to Reform” - perfectly accurateTheScreamingEagles said:God, I hate clickbait headlines.
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Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them1 -
Whereas you would have had Assad's Alawite community (*) persecuting and slaughtering muslims.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them
(*) And if you actually followed this, you would realise many alawites were *against* Assad...0 -
Well, someone ought to support the Lebanese. Sandwiched between aggressive Israelis and putative Al Qaeda, they’ll be in a terrible situation.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them3 -
No I wouldn't. Assad didn't go around massacring Sunni Muslims for starters as most of Syria is Sunni Muslim and he is a Shia Alawite, he wouldn't even have lasted as long as he did had he done soJosiasJessop said:
Whereas you would have had Assad's Alawite community (*) persecuting and slaughtering muslims.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them
(*) And if you actually followed this, you would realise many alawites were *against* Assad...0 -
You are absolutely clueless. Totally and utterly clueless. Read some of those documents I posted yesterday to see exactly what he, and his dad, did.HYUFD said:
No I wouldn't. Assad didn't go around massacring Sunni Muslims for starters as most of Syria is Sunni Muslim and he is a Shia Alawite, he wouldn't even have lasted as long as he did had he done soJosiasJessop said:
Whereas you would have had Assad's Alawite community (*) persecuting and slaughtering muslims.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them
(*) And if you actually followed this, you would realise many alawites were *against* Assad...
In fact, you're worse than clueless.1 -
How awesome for McLaren, first championship in 26 years, since today’s commentator David Couthard was their driver!2
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I think it's time for OGH to sell up on PB.
Surely some TV channel would happily pick us all up - establish all of us with lifetime memberships of some new, but extravagant club building in the West End - call it the Old Drones - bar, railway timetable room, another bar, overnight rooms, cricket room, overnight designated carpet areas, and emergency bar. All umbrella stands to have drains.
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Fire up the emergency centrist Dad livestream on Syria.
https://x.com/restispolitics/status/1865718136198316196?s=612 -
Add a Scalextric room with giant layout for some of us, and a model railway (preferably Hornby clockwork O gauge) for some of the rest of us.Omnium said:I think it's time for OGH to sell up on PB.
Surely some TV channel would happily pick us all up - establish all of us with lifetime memberships of some new, but extravagant club building in the West End - call it the Old Drones - bar, railway timetable room, another bar, overnight rooms, cricket room, overnight designated carpet areas, and emergency bar. All umbrella stands to have drains.0 -
There'd be a lot of 'good riddance' talk, but Braverman was a senior figure, at the least such a defection would focus attention and support on Reform which Badenoch really needs to prevent.0
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Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/18657708224737527900 -
Syria's situation is obviously very tense and has the potential to get worse which needs to be acknowledged (and typically is), but it's a bit late in the day to be simping for how much better Assad was/would be - I thought the whole point of 'pragmatic' realpolitik was to act based on the situation as it exists, selecting the most practical option, not wish the situation was completely different. The Assad monarchy is over, even if only unpalatable paths exist for Syria in the eyes of many that is now the situation.1
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The pardons are understandable, even most Americans apparently don't care what happened that day and he has consistently supported those who were convicted, but what's behind the birthright citizenship change idea? It sounds like the sort of thing that even a President could not change alone (or if the legal position is not 100% settled, only the SC could resolve).williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
I think birthright citizenship is one of those things people assume is the case here, but I'm not sure it is? Or at least it is more complicated.0 -
It seemed relatively measured - to automatically scoff at optimistic scenarios would also be wrong, but the West really does seem out of this one (as much as a superpower like the USA can ever be out of something) and so caution is pretty reasonable, since no decisions even need to be made around withdrawing/adding support.Mexicanpete said:
This was posted without comment. Did you post it to demonstrate what an international statesman we have in future President Vance or what a plumb he is?williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.0 -
If you watch the interview he seems to be suggesting they do whatever it takes constitutionally, including a new amendment.kle4 said:
The pardons are understandable, even most Americans apparently don't care what happened that day and he has consistently supported those who were convicted, but what's behind the birthright citizenship change idea? It sounds like the sort of thing that even a President could not change alone (or if the legal position is not 100% settled, only the SC could resolve).williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
I think birthright citizenship is one of those things people assume is the case here, but I'm not sure it is? Or at least it is more complicated.0 -
I'm increasingly sure we're only getting minor tweaks on this issue - the government has the majority to go big, just as Boris's did, but are already getting nervous about major changes being too difficult to try, even if they can probably go further as they'll have fewer whinging from NIMBY MPs in the shires.BatteryCorrectHorse said:If the NPPF doesn’t allow for 50m masts, then what is Sir Keir for?
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I don't think we've had one for something like 30 years, I wonder if that is a record.williamglenn said:
If you watch the interview he seems to be suggesting they do whatever it takes constitutionally, including a new amendment.kle4 said:
The pardons are understandable, even most Americans apparently don't care what happened that day and he has consistently supported those who were convicted, but what's behind the birthright citizenship change idea? It sounds like the sort of thing that even a President could not change alone (or if the legal position is not 100% settled, only the SC could resolve).williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
I think birthright citizenship is one of those things people assume is the case here, but I'm not sure it is? Or at least it is more complicated.0 -
In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.0 -
Don't forget they've got the Iranian proxy which practically operates as its own state. Not an easy place to be.OldKingCole said:
Well, someone ought to support the Lebanese. Sandwiched between aggressive Israelis and putative Al Qaeda, they’ll be in a terrible situation.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them1 -
Only really North and South America these days.kle4 said:
The pardons are understandable, even most Americans apparently don't care what happened that day and he has consistently supported those who were convicted, but what's behind the birthright citizenship change idea? It sounds like the sort of thing that even a President could not change alone (or if the legal position is not 100% settled, only the SC could resolve).williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
I think birthright citizenship is one of those things people assume is the case here, but I'm not sure it is? Or at least it is more complicated.
I'm surprised Trump can end birthright citizenship without amending the constitution. I presume "anchor babies" are the reason.0 -
Trump's previous, from last time:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/23/politics/us-new-rules-restricting-travel-fearing-birth-tourism/index.html0 -
26 years?! I’m old enough to remember Mika Hakkinen driving through Woking to celebrate the last victory..Sandpit said:How awesome for McLaren, first championship in 26 years, since today’s commentator David Couthard was their driver!
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I think the good riddance talk is because she had become a senior figure. She is/was also rather poisonous. It's a hard line to draw though- when does the opinionated become ghastly.kle4 said:There'd be a lot of 'good riddance' talk, but Braverman was a senior figure, at the least such a defection would focus attention and support on Reform which Badenoch really needs to prevent.
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https://youtu.be/MrRLVNoOpwE
Long gaps between things, with many great political examples for election nerds1 -
Unlike Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, neither of whom were born the last time the championship went back to Woking.Razedabode said:
26 years?! I’m old enough to remember Mika Hakkinen driving through Woking to celebrate the last victory..Sandpit said:How awesome for McLaren, first championship in 26 years, since today’s commentator David Couthard was their driver!
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Poor guy, always being pushed around. (I recall reading a long time ago he was basically the family figurehead not the driving force, though after 25 years at the top that seems a rather generous interpretation).
Bashar al-Asad has done many evil things, but he’s weak rather than wicked. His family members, Iran and especially Russia told him what to do, and he feebly did it. In person, I found him meek and anxious to please — the reverse of the traditional dictator.
https://nitter.poast.org/JohnSimpsonNews/status/1865689349381128649#m0 -
Once the rivers are de-sewaged, he can just use drip-dry.Omnium said:
Well Ed Davey will have to sponge and press his trousers then.OldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
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I see PB’s communal expertise has pivoted on to Syria. Lovely stuff.0
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Has his name on it after all.MattW said:
Once the rivers are de-sewaged, he can just use drip-dry.Omnium said:
Well Ed Davey will have to sponge and press his trousers then.OldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
Joking aside surely the LDs have some plan to do something or other?1 -
Shows how ignorant you are.HYUFD said:
For starters as their parents are likely to be on higher incomes as still earning a wage while many pensioners will be on little more than state pensionsBartholomewRoberts said:
Why are you comparing to "average"?HYUFD said:
Compared to the average Briton pensioners are more vulnerable to the cold, what a stupid postBartholomewRoberts said:
Plenty of people of all ages are poor - why do only pensioners matter to you?malcolmg said:
You are not even at the level of a halfwit. Plenty of pensioners are poor you absolute unfeeling twat , an excuse for a human being.BartholomewRoberts said:
Cut the self-entitled spoilt crap.rottenborough said:This. 100x this.
Either Reeves needs to back down/ameliorate or Starmer needs to sack her before she ends their 2028-29 chances with four years to go.
It's a bloody disaster as PBers like me said on the day it was announced.
" ‘It’s only a matter of time until we get some terrible case,’ a minister confided to me. ‘It happens every year, some tragedy where a pensioner dies alone. But this year it will be blamed on us – for winter fuel allowance cuts. And then we’re going to be in the midst of a full-blown crisis.’ "
"But they cannot align the relatively small saving with the potentially catastrophic political cost of being seen to target some of the most vulnerable in society in wintertime."
"I’ve spoken to Cabinet ministers, junior ministers, MPs, councillors, party officials, activists, trade union officials. I have yet to find a single person within Labour’s ranks who genuinely believes in the winter fuel benefit cut. Or thinks it is politically sustainable."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14168519/DAN-HODGES-Pensioners-die-freezing-minister-confided-winter-fuel-axe-Labours-ranks-tell-fear-worse-come.html
Featherbedded spoilt people expecting others to give them money they haven't earned and don't need deserve zero sympathy. None whatsoever.
Pensioners are not the "most vulnerable" in society, that is pig ignorant. 75% own their own home without a mortgage and they aren't even the most vulnerable to the cold, that is infants under 1 year of age who are far more vulnerable than pensioners but have never had such entitlement.
Welfare should be a safety net for those who need it.
If poor people need welfare, then it should be targeted at those who need it, not those who don't.
And the most in need are poor babies, not pensioners. Contrary to received myths on here, pensioners have never been the most vulnerable to the cold.
Compared to infants under 1 year of age pensioners are LESS vulnerable to the cold.
So give me one damned reason why the hell should we give pensioners universal payments for winter fuel while their more vulnerable (great-)grandchildren are left to freeze in their cots without it.
Most pensioners are on both more than state pension and not paying either rent or mortgage.
Almost every parent of an infant is paying either rent or a mortgage and most are not on high incomes.
If you want to support the needy universally then infants are more needy than pensioners, universally. If you want it to be means tested, then support means testing. Supporting universality to the less needy is just preposterous.0 -
What are you talking about?IanB2 said:
No, really it doesn’t. Draw a radius around any major European city, and there will be a million or more living within it. You simply can’t do that in the US, away from NYC which is on an island. Urban sprawl, and the car-dependent culture it requires, is the problem.BartholomewRoberts said:
That's the problem, urban sprawl is a very good thing.IanB2 said:
The Green Belt around London came about after British politicians visited Los Angeles and were horrified by its nondescript urban sprawl. And the concept is still cherished by people living in Outer London and the Inner Home Counties, who fear waking up one day to find their area turned into another Peckham.MattW said:
I think Greenbelt is overemphasised relative to other designations for preservation / conservation; it has too much head space so it is obsessed over.Carnyx said:
An excellent example of how the Tories are the servants of the elderly Home Counties voters. .HYUFD said:
NI should be ringfenced for state pensions, contributions based unemployment benefit and some social care funding.BartholomewRoberts said:The Government should embrace the fact it has pissed off a self-centred vested interest group that primarily didn't vote for it anyway and do the right things that for too long haven't been done for the country.
Planning reform so that young people can own their own home, even if it affects the views or property prices of landlords.
End the triple lock and link pensioners salaries to working people's salaries so that we really are "all in it together".
Merge NI and Income Tax so everyone pays the same tax rate regardless of whether they're working or not.
Labour should grasp the nettle and govern for people who are working for a living like their name implies.
Planning reform must not rip all over the greenbelt and also needs to go hand in hand with reduced immigration to cut demand
Large areas of the country have little or no Greenbelt, but do have National Parks, AONBs, SPAs etc.
There's much brown belt or grey belt within Greenbelt, especially for example around London, and that should be used to allow growth - with a hefty premium of planning gain levy (probably most of it) to help fund Local Authorities more effectively. There is far too much sitting on green belt land for decades and decades for when it can be released. That's a bubble that we need to pop.
Objectively, everyone knows that protecting the sites of former petrol stations and the like against worthwhile development is a nonsense. But every politician in those areas knows the enduring power of a ‘save the Green Belt’ campaign, and therein lies the problem.
It’s rather like social care. Everyone knows that the solution has to involve better off people using at least some of the equity from their property to pay for care - as many people are forced to do by the status quo. But as soon as any party makes this explicit, they offer their opponents a golden campaigning opportunity.
Sprawl enables far more people to have somewhere to live of their own.
Pulling up the drawbridge and saying the boundary is here and no further is fine if you have no population changes and everyone already has somewhere to live of their own. Neither of those is the case.
Preventing sprawl in these circumstances isn't just wrong, it's hateful.
A sensible policy is to review and reconfigure the Green Belt provisions to enable the development of obviously already-‘spoiled’ land.
The problem with our politics is that the most simplistic messages often carry the most appeal, for the majority of voters who aren’t paying all that much attention.
You referenced LA before, its population is not less than a million, it is over 18 million in Greater LA. Far more than Greater London.
Urban sprawl is a great thing that allows plenty of people to have a house of their own.
London should be sprawling out and getting bigger giving more people a house of their own.1 -
https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...0 -
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
So his argument is that migrants can could come here under visas that his government literally handed to them but they have to be homeless?williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.1 -
Hardworking Brits want immigration slashed and new homes in brownfield sites for Brits who need themkle4 said:
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
How nice for the GermansFrancisUrquhart said:In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.0 -
If you want an idea of how Qatar has infiltrated our universities listen to this chap from Kings College London.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwr9ze7FT98
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Braverman's hardline on immigration is of a type that will appeal to the white working class increasingly turning from LabourShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...1 -
Like I said, they do not want new homes in practice (Yes, brownfield can be prioritised, no, it would not cover all need).HYUFD said:
Hardworking Brits want immigration slashed and new homes in brownfield sites for Brits who need themkle4 said:
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.
People are lying or fooling themselves if they think the public will become magically supportive of homebuilding.
And in case you hadn't noticed, people object to housing on brownfield land all the time as well. That's yet another reason it makes no sense when people just go 'brownfield first' as if that will solve everything ('first' also implies you might need to go elsewhere, which peopel do not want).0 -
If immigration comes down these voters will be Labour inclined, as they are already.HYUFD said:
Braverman's hardline on immigration is of a type that will appeal to the white working class increasingly turning from LabourShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...
But I agree that right now they are going Reform.0 -
So, he plans to amend the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by Executive Order?williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/18657708224737527904 -
Presumably the argument is that if only the government weren't letting all these horrid foreigners in, we wouldn't need those houses.rottenborough said:
So his argument is that migrants can could come here under visas that his government literally handed to them but they have to be homeless?williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.
(We would, but that's another story.)
The catch is more that there was a bloke called Jenrick who was immigration minister when the door really fell off its hinges. Whatever became of him?1 -
Greater LA outside of a few pleasant bits around Beverly Hills and Malibu is a vast, ugly, pollution and car filled and gang filled hellhole and California let alone the US overall has far more landmass for new homes than SE EnglandBartholomewRoberts said:
What are you talking about?IanB2 said:
No, really it doesn’t. Draw a radius around any major European city, and there will be a million or more living within it. You simply can’t do that in the US, away from NYC which is on an island. Urban sprawl, and the car-dependent culture it requires, is the problem.BartholomewRoberts said:
That's the problem, urban sprawl is a very good thing.IanB2 said:
The Green Belt around London came about after British politicians visited Los Angeles and were horrified by its nondescript urban sprawl. And the concept is still cherished by people living in Outer London and the Inner Home Counties, who fear waking up one day to find their area turned into another Peckham.MattW said:
I think Greenbelt is overemphasised relative to other designations for preservation / conservation; it has too much head space so it is obsessed over.Carnyx said:
An excellent example of how the Tories are the servants of the elderly Home Counties voters. .HYUFD said:
NI should be ringfenced for state pensions, contributions based unemployment benefit and some social care funding.BartholomewRoberts said:The Government should embrace the fact it has pissed off a self-centred vested interest group that primarily didn't vote for it anyway and do the right things that for too long haven't been done for the country.
Planning reform so that young people can own their own home, even if it affects the views or property prices of landlords.
End the triple lock and link pensioners salaries to working people's salaries so that we really are "all in it together".
Merge NI and Income Tax so everyone pays the same tax rate regardless of whether they're working or not.
Labour should grasp the nettle and govern for people who are working for a living like their name implies.
Planning reform must not rip all over the greenbelt and also needs to go hand in hand with reduced immigration to cut demand
Large areas of the country have little or no Greenbelt, but do have National Parks, AONBs, SPAs etc.
There's much brown belt or grey belt within Greenbelt, especially for example around London, and that should be used to allow growth - with a hefty premium of planning gain levy (probably most of it) to help fund Local Authorities more effectively. There is far too much sitting on green belt land for decades and decades for when it can be released. That's a bubble that we need to pop.
Objectively, everyone knows that protecting the sites of former petrol stations and the like against worthwhile development is a nonsense. But every politician in those areas knows the enduring power of a ‘save the Green Belt’ campaign, and therein lies the problem.
It’s rather like social care. Everyone knows that the solution has to involve better off people using at least some of the equity from their property to pay for care - as many people are forced to do by the status quo. But as soon as any party makes this explicit, they offer their opponents a golden campaigning opportunity.
Sprawl enables far more people to have somewhere to live of their own.
Pulling up the drawbridge and saying the boundary is here and no further is fine if you have no population changes and everyone already has somewhere to live of their own. Neither of those is the case.
Preventing sprawl in these circumstances isn't just wrong, it's hateful.
A sensible policy is to review and reconfigure the Green Belt provisions to enable the development of obviously already-‘spoiled’ land.
The problem with our politics is that the most simplistic messages often carry the most appeal, for the majority of voters who aren’t paying all that much attention.
You referenced LA before, its population is not less than a million, it is over 18 million in Greater LA. Far more than Greater London.
Urban sprawl is a great thing that allows plenty of people to have a house of their own.
London should be sprawling out and getting bigger giving more people a house of their own.0 -
Trump could do a lot of things and then let people take it up with the courts? He would love a good fight on several issues.rcs1000 said:
So, he plans to amend the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by Executive Order?williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/18657708224737527900 -
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...1 -
"Fighting the Assad regime was the glue that kept this de facto coalition together", says Thomas Juneau, Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, who is also in Doha.FrancisUrquhart said:In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.
"Now that Assad has fled, continued unity among the groups that toppled him will be a challenge," he says.
Got it in one1 -
We don't need to go full Greater LA in order to support London getting bigger.HYUFD said:
Greater LA outside of a few pleasant bits around Beverly Hills and Malibu is a vast, ugly, pollution and car filled and gang filled hellhole and California let alone the US overall has far more landmass for new homes than SE EnglandBartholomewRoberts said:
What are you talking about?IanB2 said:
No, really it doesn’t. Draw a radius around any major European city, and there will be a million or more living within it. You simply can’t do that in the US, away from NYC which is on an island. Urban sprawl, and the car-dependent culture it requires, is the problem.BartholomewRoberts said:
That's the problem, urban sprawl is a very good thing.IanB2 said:
The Green Belt around London came about after British politicians visited Los Angeles and were horrified by its nondescript urban sprawl. And the concept is still cherished by people living in Outer London and the Inner Home Counties, who fear waking up one day to find their area turned into another Peckham.MattW said:
I think Greenbelt is overemphasised relative to other designations for preservation / conservation; it has too much head space so it is obsessed over.Carnyx said:
An excellent example of how the Tories are the servants of the elderly Home Counties voters. .HYUFD said:
NI should be ringfenced for state pensions, contributions based unemployment benefit and some social care funding.BartholomewRoberts said:The Government should embrace the fact it has pissed off a self-centred vested interest group that primarily didn't vote for it anyway and do the right things that for too long haven't been done for the country.
Planning reform so that young people can own their own home, even if it affects the views or property prices of landlords.
End the triple lock and link pensioners salaries to working people's salaries so that we really are "all in it together".
Merge NI and Income Tax so everyone pays the same tax rate regardless of whether they're working or not.
Labour should grasp the nettle and govern for people who are working for a living like their name implies.
Planning reform must not rip all over the greenbelt and also needs to go hand in hand with reduced immigration to cut demand
Large areas of the country have little or no Greenbelt, but do have National Parks, AONBs, SPAs etc.
There's much brown belt or grey belt within Greenbelt, especially for example around London, and that should be used to allow growth - with a hefty premium of planning gain levy (probably most of it) to help fund Local Authorities more effectively. There is far too much sitting on green belt land for decades and decades for when it can be released. That's a bubble that we need to pop.
Objectively, everyone knows that protecting the sites of former petrol stations and the like against worthwhile development is a nonsense. But every politician in those areas knows the enduring power of a ‘save the Green Belt’ campaign, and therein lies the problem.
It’s rather like social care. Everyone knows that the solution has to involve better off people using at least some of the equity from their property to pay for care - as many people are forced to do by the status quo. But as soon as any party makes this explicit, they offer their opponents a golden campaigning opportunity.
Sprawl enables far more people to have somewhere to live of their own.
Pulling up the drawbridge and saying the boundary is here and no further is fine if you have no population changes and everyone already has somewhere to live of their own. Neither of those is the case.
Preventing sprawl in these circumstances isn't just wrong, it's hateful.
A sensible policy is to review and reconfigure the Green Belt provisions to enable the development of obviously already-‘spoiled’ land.
The problem with our politics is that the most simplistic messages often carry the most appeal, for the majority of voters who aren’t paying all that much attention.
You referenced LA before, its population is not less than a million, it is over 18 million in Greater LA. Far more than Greater London.
Urban sprawl is a great thing that allows plenty of people to have a house of their own.
London should be sprawling out and getting bigger giving more people a house of their own.
That's the kind of silliness that has people moaning about concreting over the Greenbelt even if said green belt land is of limited use or attractiveness.2 -
...
If that is true, your boy Bobby J. needs to lead a coup d' etat and take his rightful place as Führer.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
Labour Calling, Labour Calling.Shecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...1 -
Is there anything written down that says he can't do that?rcs1000 said:
So, he plans to amend the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by Executive Order?williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/18657708224737527902 -
A week is a long time in politics. Just four and a half years to go.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...1 -
A substantial proportion are not.BartholomewRoberts said:
Shows how ignorant you are.HYUFD said:
For starters as their parents are likely to be on higher incomes as still earning a wage while many pensioners will be on little more than state pensionsBartholomewRoberts said:
Why are you comparing to "average"?HYUFD said:
Compared to the average Briton pensioners are more vulnerable to the cold, what a stupid postBartholomewRoberts said:
Plenty of people of all ages are poor - why do only pensioners matter to you?malcolmg said:
You are not even at the level of a halfwit. Plenty of pensioners are poor you absolute unfeeling twat , an excuse for a human being.BartholomewRoberts said:
Cut the self-entitled spoilt crap.rottenborough said:This. 100x this.
Either Reeves needs to back down/ameliorate or Starmer needs to sack her before she ends their 2028-29 chances with four years to go.
It's a bloody disaster as PBers like me said on the day it was announced.
" ‘It’s only a matter of time until we get some terrible case,’ a minister confided to me. ‘It happens every year, some tragedy where a pensioner dies alone. But this year it will be blamed on us – for winter fuel allowance cuts. And then we’re going to be in the midst of a full-blown crisis.’ "
"But they cannot align the relatively small saving with the potentially catastrophic political cost of being seen to target some of the most vulnerable in society in wintertime."
"I’ve spoken to Cabinet ministers, junior ministers, MPs, councillors, party officials, activists, trade union officials. I have yet to find a single person within Labour’s ranks who genuinely believes in the winter fuel benefit cut. Or thinks it is politically sustainable."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14168519/DAN-HODGES-Pensioners-die-freezing-minister-confided-winter-fuel-axe-Labours-ranks-tell-fear-worse-come.html
Featherbedded spoilt people expecting others to give them money they haven't earned and don't need deserve zero sympathy. None whatsoever.
Pensioners are not the "most vulnerable" in society, that is pig ignorant. 75% own their own home without a mortgage and they aren't even the most vulnerable to the cold, that is infants under 1 year of age who are far more vulnerable than pensioners but have never had such entitlement.
Welfare should be a safety net for those who need it.
If poor people need welfare, then it should be targeted at those who need it, not those who don't.
And the most in need are poor babies, not pensioners. Contrary to received myths on here, pensioners have never been the most vulnerable to the cold.
Compared to infants under 1 year of age pensioners are LESS vulnerable to the cold.
So give me one damned reason why the hell should we give pensioners universal payments for winter fuel while their more vulnerable (great-)grandchildren are left to freeze in their cots without it.
Most pensioners are on both more than state pension and not paying either rent or mortgage.
Almost every parent of an infant is paying either rent or a mortgage and most are not on high incomes.
If you want to support the needy universally then infants are more needy than pensioners, universally. If you want it to be means tested, then support means testing. Supporting universality to the less needy is just preposterous.
State pension is £9k a year, large numbers of state pensioners renting privately or in council homes while even minimum wage is £20k a year now full time and WFA been cut even for pensioner incomes thousands less than that0 -
Don't think they needed to go to an expert for that soundbite (In fairness, complexity is impossible to get across in a soudbite). It seems like civil wars can generally last longer than external wars, it's presumably much harder for disparate internal groups with different goals to trust one another enough to put down the guns, where as state vs state governments enforce a peace.HYUFD said:
"Fighting the Assad regime was the glue that kept this de facto coalition together", says Thomas Juneau, Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, who is also in Doha.FrancisUrquhart said:In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.
"Now that Assad has fled, continued unity among the groups that toppled him will be a challenge," he says.
Got it in one
Is total peace about to break out? Sounds unlikely given the past 50 years. With limited international influence over the entirety of rebel groups (Turkey apparently does with some in the north), the ability of externals to help maintain a peace is also presumably itself limited.
But at least for a time there is some hope, which is more than they had 3 weeks ago.0 -
You know the US has bases in Syria. Supports the Kurds and the SNA who occupy nearly half of the country. And this was going on during the Trump 2016 era. Much like in Gaza i think its better to judge American leaders on their actions rather than their tweets.kle4 said:
It seemed relatively measured - to automatically scoff at optimistic scenarios would also be wrong, but the West really does seem out of this one (as much as a superpower like the USA can ever be out of something) and so caution is pretty reasonable, since no decisions even need to be made around withdrawing/adding support.Mexicanpete said:
This was posted without comment. Did you post it to demonstrate what an international statesman we have in future President Vance or what a plumb he is?williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
As an aside, Israel is also taking territory along the border.0 -
And they'll all be returning now, I'm sure.FrancisUrquhart said:In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.2 -
Some of you may be aware of the problems of autocratic states as described in the works of Anne Applebaum. One of the aspects of those problems is the social contract between autocrat and the people: the autocrat provides security and safety, the people give up the desire to get involved in politics. The Simon Whistler channel "Warfronts" has done a brief explainer
The Social Contract: How Autocrats Stay in Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmZhVmP2z0 (27 mins)
British people find it difficult to understand that Putin does have the support of the Russian people, and he genuinely does. But it's not expressed via the democratic process, and he may fall if he cannot maintain his side of the deal.2 -
That’s really not true. Large chunks of LA are very nice. Santa Monica. Brentwood. The canyons. Anywhere by the sea. Yes Downtown can be grim and violent and the valleys are more boring than anything, but it’s not dystopiaHYUFD said:
Greater LA outside of a few pleasant bits around Beverly Hills and Malibu is a vast, ugly, pollution and car filled and gang filled hellhole and California let alone the US overall has far more landmass for new homes than SE EnglandBartholomewRoberts said:
What are you talking about?IanB2 said:
No, really it doesn’t. Draw a radius around any major European city, and there will be a million or more living within it. You simply can’t do that in the US, away from NYC which is on an island. Urban sprawl, and the car-dependent culture it requires, is the problem.BartholomewRoberts said:
That's the problem, urban sprawl is a very good thing.IanB2 said:
The Green Belt around London came about after British politicians visited Los Angeles and were horrified by its nondescript urban sprawl. And the concept is still cherished by people living in Outer London and the Inner Home Counties, who fear waking up one day to find their area turned into another Peckham.MattW said:
I think Greenbelt is overemphasised relative to other designations for preservation / conservation; it has too much head space so it is obsessed over.Carnyx said:
An excellent example of how the Tories are the servants of the elderly Home Counties voters. .HYUFD said:
NI should be ringfenced for state pensions, contributions based unemployment benefit and some social care funding.BartholomewRoberts said:The Government should embrace the fact it has pissed off a self-centred vested interest group that primarily didn't vote for it anyway and do the right things that for too long haven't been done for the country.
Planning reform so that young people can own their own home, even if it affects the views or property prices of landlords.
End the triple lock and link pensioners salaries to working people's salaries so that we really are "all in it together".
Merge NI and Income Tax so everyone pays the same tax rate regardless of whether they're working or not.
Labour should grasp the nettle and govern for people who are working for a living like their name implies.
Planning reform must not rip all over the greenbelt and also needs to go hand in hand with reduced immigration to cut demand
Large areas of the country have little or no Greenbelt, but do have National Parks, AONBs, SPAs etc.
There's much brown belt or grey belt within Greenbelt, especially for example around London, and that should be used to allow growth - with a hefty premium of planning gain levy (probably most of it) to help fund Local Authorities more effectively. There is far too much sitting on green belt land for decades and decades for when it can be released. That's a bubble that we need to pop.
Objectively, everyone knows that protecting the sites of former petrol stations and the like against worthwhile development is a nonsense. But every politician in those areas knows the enduring power of a ‘save the Green Belt’ campaign, and therein lies the problem.
It’s rather like social care. Everyone knows that the solution has to involve better off people using at least some of the equity from their property to pay for care - as many people are forced to do by the status quo. But as soon as any party makes this explicit, they offer their opponents a golden campaigning opportunity.
Sprawl enables far more people to have somewhere to live of their own.
Pulling up the drawbridge and saying the boundary is here and no further is fine if you have no population changes and everyone already has somewhere to live of their own. Neither of those is the case.
Preventing sprawl in these circumstances isn't just wrong, it's hateful.
A sensible policy is to review and reconfigure the Green Belt provisions to enable the development of obviously already-‘spoiled’ land.
The problem with our politics is that the most simplistic messages often carry the most appeal, for the majority of voters who aren’t paying all that much attention.
You referenced LA before, its population is not less than a million, it is over 18 million in Greater LA. Far more than Greater London.
Urban sprawl is a great thing that allows plenty of people to have a house of their own.
London should be sprawling out and getting bigger giving more people a house of their own.
It’s a mish mash. The urban sprawl IS ugly and endless and we don’t want that in the UK0 -
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...
1 -
Well he's already planning to tear up the 22nd so why not thrown in another one?rcs1000 said:
So, he plans to amend the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by Executive Order?williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
0 -
What do lazy Brits want?HYUFD said:
Hardworking Brits want immigration slashed and new homes in brownfield sites for Brits who need themkle4 said:
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
The Big Flap continues
“Have YOU seen the mysterious #drones in the night sky over #NewJersey?
EXCLUSIVE @News12NJ video from the @OceanCounty911 shows their first captured encounter with what they believe to be one of those drones.”
https://x.com/n12tkrosnowski/status/1865597595428479460?s=46
It’s not “one kid with a toy” and then a load of contagion. My best guess is still Russia or China1 -
Was it originally part of Canaan?MightyAlex said:
You know the US has bases in Syria. Supports the Kurds and the SNA who occupy nearly half of the country. And this was going on during the Trump 2016 era. Much like in Gaza i think its better to judge American leaders on their actions rather than their tweets.kle4 said:
It seemed relatively measured - to automatically scoff at optimistic scenarios would also be wrong, but the West really does seem out of this one (as much as a superpower like the USA can ever be out of something) and so caution is pretty reasonable, since no decisions even need to be made around withdrawing/adding support.Mexicanpete said:
This was posted without comment. Did you post it to demonstrate what an international statesman we have in future President Vance or what a plumb he is?williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
As an aside, Israel is also taking territory along the border.0 -
Someone else to get rid of Keir Starmer while they sit on their arsesNorthern_Al said:
What do lazy Brits want?HYUFD said:
Hardworking Brits want immigration slashed and new homes in brownfield sites for Brits who need themkle4 said:
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
Possibly less inclined to be NIMBYs due to general apathy, and as such less damaging to the nation.Northern_Al said:
What do lazy Brits want?HYUFD said:
Hardworking Brits want immigration slashed and new homes in brownfield sites for Brits who need themkle4 said:
Makes sense to me, hardworking Brits typically do not want new homes built at all (not in practice), so why wouldn't new homes go to migrants? All get what they want.williamglenn said:https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1865777200642883596
Under Labour’s plans 5 in 7 of their new homes will go to migrants.
This ‘Government of service’ serves everyone, but hardworking Brits.0 -
It will take 20 years to undo the harm Starmer will have done in the 20 months before the inevitability of his evil incompetence means he is got rid of.rottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...1 -
For accuracy, the full state pension is now just over £11.5k, not £9k.HYUFD said:
A substantial proportion are not.BartholomewRoberts said:
Shows how ignorant you are.HYUFD said:
For starters as their parents are likely to be on higher incomes as still earning a wage while many pensioners will be on little more than state pensionsBartholomewRoberts said:
Why are you comparing to "average"?HYUFD said:
Compared to the average Briton pensioners are more vulnerable to the cold, what a stupid postBartholomewRoberts said:
Plenty of people of all ages are poor - why do only pensioners matter to you?malcolmg said:
You are not even at the level of a halfwit. Plenty of pensioners are poor you absolute unfeeling twat , an excuse for a human being.BartholomewRoberts said:
Cut the self-entitled spoilt crap.rottenborough said:This. 100x this.
Either Reeves needs to back down/ameliorate or Starmer needs to sack her before she ends their 2028-29 chances with four years to go.
It's a bloody disaster as PBers like me said on the day it was announced.
" ‘It’s only a matter of time until we get some terrible case,’ a minister confided to me. ‘It happens every year, some tragedy where a pensioner dies alone. But this year it will be blamed on us – for winter fuel allowance cuts. And then we’re going to be in the midst of a full-blown crisis.’ "
"But they cannot align the relatively small saving with the potentially catastrophic political cost of being seen to target some of the most vulnerable in society in wintertime."
"I’ve spoken to Cabinet ministers, junior ministers, MPs, councillors, party officials, activists, trade union officials. I have yet to find a single person within Labour’s ranks who genuinely believes in the winter fuel benefit cut. Or thinks it is politically sustainable."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14168519/DAN-HODGES-Pensioners-die-freezing-minister-confided-winter-fuel-axe-Labours-ranks-tell-fear-worse-come.html
Featherbedded spoilt people expecting others to give them money they haven't earned and don't need deserve zero sympathy. None whatsoever.
Pensioners are not the "most vulnerable" in society, that is pig ignorant. 75% own their own home without a mortgage and they aren't even the most vulnerable to the cold, that is infants under 1 year of age who are far more vulnerable than pensioners but have never had such entitlement.
Welfare should be a safety net for those who need it.
If poor people need welfare, then it should be targeted at those who need it, not those who don't.
And the most in need are poor babies, not pensioners. Contrary to received myths on here, pensioners have never been the most vulnerable to the cold.
Compared to infants under 1 year of age pensioners are LESS vulnerable to the cold.
So give me one damned reason why the hell should we give pensioners universal payments for winter fuel while their more vulnerable (great-)grandchildren are left to freeze in their cots without it.
Most pensioners are on both more than state pension and not paying either rent or mortgage.
Almost every parent of an infant is paying either rent or a mortgage and most are not on high incomes.
If you want to support the needy universally then infants are more needy than pensioners, universally. If you want it to be means tested, then support means testing. Supporting universality to the less needy is just preposterous.
State pension is £9k a year, large numbers of state pensioners renting privately or in council homes while even minimum wage is £20k a year now full time and WFA been cut even for pensioner incomes thousands less than that0 -
Also Biden could point to a robust economy and high wages and a general sense of growthrottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...
Wasn’t enough. And starmer won’t have any of these0 -
Well, he was about 120 years old. Without that maybe he'd have looked like doing better than was the case, which caused his ousting.Leon said:
Also Biden could point to a robust economy and high wages and a general sense of growthrottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...
Wasn’t enough.0 -
Biden copped the blame for covid inflation though.rottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...
Starmer at least should be spared that.0 -
I think there's a typo in your post. You wrote 'Starmer' when I think it was meant to say 'Johnson'.A_View_From_Cumbria5 said:
It will take 20 years to undo the harm Starmer will have done in the 20 months before the inevitability of his evil incompetence means he is got rid of.rottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...4 -
As is usual in the interregnum, the sitting president Joe Biden is a lame duck. But even more pointedly so now that the once and future president Trump bestrides the world stage in Paris and on social media and he is correctly called "president" for his earlier incumbancy. Meanwhile the world is oblivious to the current incumbant in the oval office except for his egregious pardons0
-
That looks suspiciously like a plane.Leon said:The Big Flap continues
“Have YOU seen the mysterious #drones in the night sky over #NewJersey?
EXCLUSIVE @News12NJ video from the @OceanCounty911 shows their first captured encounter with what they believe to be one of those drones.”
https://x.com/n12tkrosnowski/status/1865597595428479460?s=46
It’s not “one kid with a toy” and then a load of contagion. My best guess is still Russia or China0 -
Aren’t the Turks opposed to the SNA?MightyAlex said:
You know the US has bases in Syria. Supports the Kurds and the SNA who occupy nearly half of the country. And this was going on during the Trump 2016 era. Much like in Gaza i think its better to judge American leaders on their actions rather than their tweets.kle4 said:
It seemed relatively measured - to automatically scoff at optimistic scenarios would also be wrong, but the West really does seem out of this one (as much as a superpower like the USA can ever be out of something) and so caution is pretty reasonable, since no decisions even need to be made around withdrawing/adding support.Mexicanpete said:
This was posted without comment. Did you post it to demonstrate what an international statesman we have in future President Vance or what a plumb he is?williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
As an aside, Israel is also taking territory along the border.0 -
...
There's a General Election in 15 months? My money is on Nigel in that case.A_View_From_Cumbria5 said:
It will take 20 years to undo the harm Starmer will have done in the 20 months before the inevitability of his evil incompetence means he is got rid of.rottenborough said:
He might get loads done but it wont be enough. The message from Biden loss is loud and clear: being able to point at a long list of technocratic things you've done and how good the GDP is, or how high the % of widgets produced this term is not worth gnats piss in the new political era.Leon said:
Nah, Labour are fucked. Look how they are already cratering in Scotland. Starmer hasn’t the charisma, wit or ideas to get anything done. One termShecorns88 said:The more narcissistic basically evil, I the case of Braverman, nut jobs join Reform, better for Labour.
Reform go further and further to the Rabid Right and the more Badenochs Tories and her disgraced Right flank and Reform tear strips off each other trying to be worker than woke and more anti anti establishment.
Keir meanwhile gets his head down and grafts grafts grafts boringly but relentless steady slow improvement.
Turning the NHS around, increasing House Building, reducing net migration, clearing the Tory Asylum backlogs.
Interest rates slip quietly down, mortgage base rate slips in the 3.somethings, god forbid a few tax reductions in the form of slowly increasing tax thresholds, wealth and windfall taxes on the greedy for the needy.
The massive UK tanker, slowly turned around.
By 2028 what is the solution, rabid Right or steady solid dependable Left...0 -
And you are a grotesque apologist for Islamic extremism and a pompom waver for our disastrous Middle East policy over the past 18 years.JosiasJessop said:
You are absolutely clueless. Totally and utterly clueless. Read some of those documents I posted yesterday to see exactly what he, and his dad, did.HYUFD said:
No I wouldn't. Assad didn't go around massacring Sunni Muslims for starters as most of Syria is Sunni Muslim and he is a Shia Alawite, he wouldn't even have lasted as long as he did had he done soJosiasJessop said:
Whereas you would have had Assad's Alawite community (*) persecuting and slaughtering muslims.HYUFD said:
Sensible comments from Vance. If the rebels do start attacking the few remaining Christians in Syria we and other western nations must take them in as refugees.williamglenn said:JD Vance on events in Syria:
https://x.com/jdvance/status/1865761239802036283
As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it.
Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.
Many of "the rebels" are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they've moderated. Time will tell.
Lebanon must also take in refugees from Assad's Alawite community if the rebels start persecuting and slaughtering them
(*) And if you actually followed this, you would realise many alawites were *against* Assad...
In fact, you're worse than clueless.2 -
I think that's rightkle4 said:
Trump could do a lot of things and then let people take it up with the courts? He would love a good fight on several issues.rcs1000 said:
So, he plans to amend the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by Executive Order?williamglenn said:Trump to end birthright citizenship and pardon January 6th defendants on day one in office.
https://x.com/meetthepress/status/1865770822473752790
There's essentially no chance the Constitution gets changed because not only does it require 67% in Congress, but it also requires ratification by 75% of states.
As you say, this is more about Trump wanting to pick a fight, than expecting to change something.0 -
Much of this is the great political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who correctly discerned that the 'strong man' theory of politics is sound. Most people will and should support the one who will grant them basic protection by being the strong man/leader for them, even though he is horrible to those who oppose him. Within that limit the 'strong man' can give lots of sub freedoms - of religion, thought, assembly, way of life. Assad and Saddam were classic instances of these.viewcode said:Some of you may be aware of the problems of autocratic states as described in the works of Anne Applebaum. One of the aspects of those problems is the social contract between autocrat and the people: the autocrat provides security and safety, the people give up the desire to get involved in politics. The Simon Whistler channel "Warfronts" has done a brief explainer
The Social Contract: How Autocrats Stay in Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmZhVmP2z0 (27 mins)
British people find it difficult to understand that Putin does have the support of the Russian people, and he genuinely does. But it's not expressed via the democratic process, and he may fall if he cannot maintain his side of the deal.
The genius of western democracy is that it created a 'strong man' theory and system where the ruling state itself could be challenged by a peaceful process called voting - as we saw on 4th July in the UK.2 -
Yes I am sure the rebels will be getting ready already for Gay Pride Damascus 2025 and have their drag queen costumes ready to go to beat anything Pride can do in Berlin. Expect Syria's Eurovision entry soon.SandyRentool said:
And they'll all be returning now, I'm sure.FrancisUrquhart said:In Berlin thousands of Syrians are celebrating on the streets in various parts of the city. According to government estimates, there are thought to be almost a million Syrians in Germany.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t
That is ~5% of the Syrian population that has ended up fleeing to Germany during the war.
I am also sure at least half the leadership of the new government the rebels set up in Syria will be women to ensure full equality and diversity0 -
Not if he's wearing denim.Omnium said:
Well Ed Davey will have to sponge and press his trousers then.OldKingCole said:On topic, it wouldn’t take many defections, plus a few by-elections and the LibDems become the Official Opposition.
0 -
Section 1 of the 14th Amendment seems clear enough: "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States3 -
There's also the fact that if you stand up to the dictator you mysteriously die. Or, if you're lucky, get shipped off to a labor camp in Siberia. And then die.viewcode said:Some of you may be aware of the problems of autocratic states as described in the works of Anne Applebaum. One of the aspects of those problems is the social contract between autocrat and the people: the autocrat provides security and safety, the people give up the desire to get involved in politics. The Simon Whistler channel "Warfronts" has done a brief explainer
The Social Contract: How Autocrats Stay in Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmZhVmP2z0 (27 mins)
British people find it difficult to understand that Putin does have the support of the Russian people, and he genuinely does. But it's not expressed via the democratic process, and he may fall if he cannot maintain his side of the deal.
It kinda discourages people from sticking their neck out, unless they are really, really unhappy.3 -
There we go then. Nothing to stop the President doing any of those things.Jim_Miller said:Section 1 of the 14th Amendment seems clear enough: "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States0
