What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
Look I'm sure he says the wrong thing all the time. I don't actually follow him. But he clearly got purchase from his highlighting of the grooming gangs. Calling for Farage to be removed as leader of Reform is just daft.
Just over two weeks until the inauguration and the Ukrainians have today started an attempt to advance further into Kursk. In the last few weeks they've defended well, inflicting heavy casualties on North Korean and Russian assaults. They've also made a number of ranged attacks on command posts, and have claimed the entire destruction of the 810th Marine brigade.
Russians are complaining that their drones are made ineffective by electronic warfare countermeasures. Fingers crossed this offensive will be a success and we will be one step closer to the Russians accepting that they cannot win the war.
Is that really good enough though? The sort of war Russia has waged ought to be clearly defeated. If the west isn't capable of doing that against a declining power the message for the future isn't good.
The West cannot win if it does not want to win, but too many in the West are scared of what Russia losing looks like to want to win. I agree with you that victory against Russia in Ukraine makes the West safer in the future.
Unfortunately, there is not much prospect of the West getting the political leadership that will push for victory. Forcing Russia into a ceasefire might be the best that can be achieved with the timid leadership in Washington, Berlin, London and Paris - although I still hope that Ukraine will prove me wrong and achieve victory regardless.
But what sort of ceasefire? That is the question. One where Russia remains sanctioned and heading towards the economic cliff or one where all the sanctions are removed and we basically go back to normal as if nothing happened with everyone recognising the new territories of Russia and rump Ukraine having no security guarantees going forward. The difference between the two positions is massive.
As Adam Smith pointed out there is a lot of ruin in a nation but Russia has been on a very negative path for the best part of 3 years now. My own belief, supported by the falls in the Ruble, the collapse of the housing market, the insane level of interest rates and the damage being inflicted deep in Russia by Ukraine, is that Putin has only months left and it is not clear what will happen after that other than it will be chaotic and dangerous.
My only firm prediction is that little good will happen for Russia or Ukraine (given anything short of total Russia capitulation is still not great for the latter), but why break the habit of a century I suppose?
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
The thing is the future of both Local Government finance and the NHS hangs off that review. Which means if you aren't making decisions over social care until 2028 nothing is going to improve and everything is going to get worse...
The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.
Looks like Tommy has cost Nige a lot of money.
This could be the end of the Musk/Trump bromance as well (not that it was ever going to last)
Trump sees Farage as an ally. If not a friend (if he has friends)
Alternatively it could be Musk doing one line too many and he’ll change his mind in 2 hours
These alliances between populists (of all sorts) are inevitably fragile. Their bases are not the same. Moreover the big concerns that they have are very much not the same.
I suspect we'll see far bigger alliances falter in similar grounds in the next couple of years. China will fall out of love with Russia, and perhaps badly so.
Indeed. See also the H1B visa fall-out in the USA, within the Trumpite right. Tho that seems to have calmed down
Right wing populists also tend to have big egos - maybe all populists do - and therefore find it hard to team up. Too many lead singers in one band
I've seen some video recently of Musk and Trump together, and you can see on Trump's face the slgiht feeling of "how long do I have to put up with this weirdo"
Musk is socially awkward, volatile and needy. He's a fantastic leader of engineering projects that require drive, genius, ambition, and absolute loyalty to his vision. As a political player his personality is surely worse than Starmer's
Question is what happens next? Trump and Farage are almost certainly better off without Elon's support, but it's hard to see him leaving the stage quietly. Especially when he owns a significant stage and has enough cash to swamp any election he wants to.
The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.
Looks like Tommy has cost Nige a lot of money.
This could be the end of the Musk/Trump bromance as well (not that it was ever going to last)
Trump sees Farage as an ally. If not a friend (if he has friends)
Alternatively it could be Musk doing one line too many and he’ll change his mind in 2 hours
These alliances between populists (of all sorts) are inevitably fragile. Their bases are not the same. Moreover the big concerns that they have are very much not the same.
I suspect we'll see far bigger alliances falter in similar grounds in the next couple of years. China will fall out of love with Russia, and perhaps badly so.
Indeed. See also the H1B visa fall-out in the USA, within the Trumpite right. Tho that seems to have calmed down
Right wing populists also tend to have big egos - maybe all populists do - and therefore find it hard to team up. Too many lead singers in one band
I've seen some video recently of Musk and Trump together, and you can see on Trump's face the slgiht feeling of "how long do I have to put up with this weirdo"
Musk is socially awkward, volatile and needy. He's a fantastic leader of engineering projects that require drive, genius, ambition, and absolute loyalty to his vision. As a political player his personality is surely worse than Starmer's
He'd never make it as a politician, that's for sure. They rightly get a lot of stick but there are political skills which people need to get things done in the democratic arena effectively.
Trump lacks a lot of those skills too but a combination of luck, bluster, and, yes, some core skills (especially in securing a loyal base of support that terrifies any GOP opposition), see him through.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thought at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Wes Streeting is a far better teller of the government's story than Starmer or Reeves.
He's a better politician than both. Neither Starmer, who is a better manager nor Reeves who is a highly respected economist, ask Mark Carney, are natural politicians.
Darren Jones and Jonathan Reynolds are as good as Streeting in terms of communicating under pressure but possibly overall higher intellect.
Also a politician that is stuck at health. Cooper's going to hang on, Streeting replacing Reeves would be ludicrous, so I presume he's out to get Lammy?
I think Streeting is really very good, but I don't warm to the man.
Reeves is an interesting one. I’ve got my eye on the possibility of a 2025 exit for her.
As always, “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here but it’s not impossible to visualise a scenario where the economy continues to flatline, inflation is stubborn, Trumps economic policies bite hard and the NI rise causes an uptick in unemployment. I think Reeves has created a hostage to fortune for saying she wouldn’t come back for more tax rises. Another unpopular budget could really spook Labour and might prompt a resignation or dismissal in an effort to relaunch the governments economic policy.
That being said, it is not great for a PM to lose their chancellor. But Starmer has a ruthless streak. I don’t put it past him to jettison cabinet members to try and save his premiership.
In principle yes. Starmer world get rid of Reeves if he thought that would serve him. But as of today I don't see how it does serve him. Reeves is doing what Starmer wants her to do.
Why does he want her to fk up the economy ?
You really don't have any coherent alternatives do you.
Same old Tories
Learnt nothing
I rather think it's Labour who lack the plan B. But then they dont have a Plan A either.
Thats why then have commenced over 50 policy changes, real time announcements and initiates in past 6 months and far more to come in the next few weeks.
Small real funded improvements all formulating in to big plans.
You build brick by brick by brick a step at a time.
Yes, saving the country one frozen pensioner at a time.
Quite right too. I'm spending mine on a drinks package to keep me warm on my Norwegian Fjord cruise.
Drinks packages are £55 a day so for a couple you would get less than 2 days but the whole argument is a nonsense ss the amount involved has little effect on the cost of a holiday for a couple
Wes Streeting is a far better teller of the government's story than Starmer or Reeves.
He's a better politician than both. Neither Starmer, who is a better manager nor Reeves who is a highly respected economist, ask Mark Carney, are natural politicians.
Darren Jones and Jonathan Reynolds are as good as Streeting in terms of communicating under pressure but possibly overall higher intellect.
Also a politician that is stuck at health. Cooper's going to hang on, Streeting replacing Reeves would be ludicrous, so I presume he's out to get Lammy?
I think Streeting is really very good, but I don't warm to the man.
Reeves is an interesting one. I’ve got my eye on the possibility of a 2025 exit for her.
As always, “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here but it’s not impossible to visualise a scenario where the economy continues to flatline, inflation is stubborn, Trumps economic policies bite hard and the NI rise causes an uptick in unemployment. I think Reeves has created a hostage to fortune for saying she wouldn’t come back for more tax rises. Another unpopular budget could really spook Labour and might prompt a resignation or dismissal in an effort to relaunch the governments economic policy.
That being said, it is not great for a PM to lose their chancellor. But Starmer has a ruthless streak. I don’t put it past him to jettison cabinet members to try and save his premiership.
Starmer does have a ruthless streak but if he does pull a Harold Wilson then there is no point in sacking Reeves first.
And replacing Reeves with Streeting gives more ammunition to those who say Starmer has a misogynist streak. And Lammy, for all the opprobrium he generates on here, does seem to be getting on with the job, including securing photo-ops with foreign leaders for Starmer while still in opposition.
One other point to bear in mind is the Health job is valued more highly on the Labour benches.
Streeting and Lammy would be no where Chancellor.
Her biggest worry would be in Darren Jones or Jonathan Reynolds are supremely talented individuals deserving of a full Ninesterial role.
There are a great many Labour backbenchers (and junior ministers) feeling they deserve promotion. This might become an issue for Starmer's successor, depending when he retires.
I've pointed out before there are 100 more Labour MPs than available promotions - so eventually a lot of them are going to discover they have wasted the next 3 years of their life and won't even get long term access to Parliament from it...
Trying to buy a PC monitor, budget about £300. This is near impossible with model numbers like 27GP850P-B-M27Q-XG27ACS. Is that the one with the USB-C port? HDMI 2.1? 0.5ms?
Even worse than wireless printers IMO. Even reddit can't help.
What do you want?
screen resolution FHD, QHD or 4k screen size 24 or 27" purpose - gaming, serious gaming, office work or both...
and what are you planning to connect it to as a Mac requires something different to Windows...
USB-C for MacBook Air, QHD, 27", mainly office work, photo editing and bit of gaming. Gigabyte M27Q is the closest I've got to so far.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
Fraid so.
I could see Farage being a very effective campaigner but he would struggle as a PM.
I reckon Musk just has a Magic 8-Ball and uses that to decide who he's got it in for on X on any given day.
If you note the timing of his tweets, they are often very late at night in Austin, TX (where he mainly lives, IIRC) or indeed anywhere in the USA
The rumour is that he spends half the night getting *pepped up*, hence the insane number of angry tweets he sometimes emits, at these odd hours - and often aimed at the EU/UK, because we are already awake, so he can see an immediate response
Wes Streeting is a far better teller of the government's story than Starmer or Reeves.
Indeed.
Unfortunately. Privatise the NHS, sell data to Palantir, sell the Royal Mail to the Czechs, take winter fuel payments from pensioners, give Ed Miliband 22bn to extract magic gas from the air. The problem is not the selling of the story, it's the story itself
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
Fraid so.
I could see Farage being a very effective campaigner but he would struggle as a PM.
lol, two seconds after Musk suggests Farage isn't up to it and PBers have already turned on him.
Musk trying to pick the leader of Reform UK and yet again interfere in our democracy is a disgrace. What business does he have chiming in.
I don't have an issue with anyone, from anywhere, chiming in on the domestic politics of another country.
The issue with Musk is every utterance is breathlessly reported, he doesn't know as much about politics as he thinks he does, and he's addicted to mouthing off on twitter. Throw potential money into the mix and it just gets messy.
Trying to mess with Farage's leadership is an odd move though - like him or loathe him Reform wouldn't be a significant thing without Farage, and even if the premise were true he has taken them as far as he can, other options don't come with Farage's strengths.
Apart from the speed with which the inquiry was set up & reported (less paperwork/no emails etc., & because - unlike blood poisoning etc., Aberfan could not be ignored), it has been the template for how the British state has dealt with scandals.
There was no space to include this - but the way the Aberfan families were treated in the decades after the tragedy was appalling - and this has been copied in scandals since. Absolutely nothing has been learnt.
And my rather depressing conclusion is that this is not just because of ineptitude. But because there has been a disdain, contempt even for the people who suffer. It is almost as if by being victims they are seen as not worthy of respect or care or basic human decency. Victims are seen as "little people" not worthy bothering about
From my conclusion -
"It is as if, bad as it is to have caused harm in the first place, it somehow also seems necessary to continue with the cruelty and the contempt and the indifference in order to …. well, what? To justify what was done? To enable the perpetrators to forget that the victims are human beings like them? If they can be dismissed or dehumanised in some way, maybe it makes it easier not to face up to what you have been in part responsible for.
As CS Lewis put it:
“The greatest evil is not now done in those “sordid dens of crime” that Dickens loves to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”
There is the indifference which can be one of the causes of a problem. But what is often worse is the indifference shown to victims after problems have arisen. It is hard to understand the callousness of some decisions. Perhaps its impulse is less the effect on the victims but more a desire to save face by those responsible. It harms an institution’s self-image and, often, of the people within it. “We got it wrong.” is hard to say. If “we get it wrong” what sort of a “we” are we, really? Avoiding the shame of having to admit that your actions or inactions have been responsible for the suffering of others is what drives this indifference and contempt.
What happened to the Aberfan families has happened to so many others who have found themselves unjustly treated: not just those contaminated with infected blood, not just subpostmasters, not just those living in a dangerous tower block. But those defrauded by badly regulated financial companies, football fans, Caribbean immigrants who have lived and worked here for decades, crime victims, those wrongly convicted, hospital patients. On and on. They are victims of abuses of power by those with power.
What happened to them could happen to any of us."
This last point is so often forgotten by those in power.
I agree with Cyclefree. But there are two big dimensions to this. One is human nature, which changes only very slowly and can't be legislated for. The other is about the exercise of authority and power. In our centralised society this belongs to parliament, government and voters.
What do they do?
You are of course right that human nature does not easily change.
But - at the risk of trying to summarise what my book is about - that is why you need to understand human nature a lot better than we do when designing our laws and procedures etc and managing our organisations. You cannot force people to be good but you can make it a lot harder to be bad and catch it early.
At the heart of most of the failures have seen has been human failings and a blindness to why the systems and processes didn't work because they did not take into account how humans behave. It is what good management should be about but so often isn't.
The indifference to human suffering is harder to deal with. Again I think that we have to remember who we are all doing this stuff for. When you have lived through a scandal or tragedy or two and seen the very real impact on other human beings, it becomes easier to understand why they matter. And it is one reason why I made it my business at work to tell the human stories behind the financial cock-ups I was having to sort out. At least based on the reaction I got, people appreciated that and I hope it made a difference to how they understood the rules they were being asked to follow.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
I suppose the main issue is that he has done little to justify his majority. That's a result of a split opposition. He has no vision, no plan and cant take people with him as a result. He's the Chauncey Gardener of UK politics,
Not really - if you add all the Reform votes to the Conservatives, and all the Lib Dem votes to Labour, you still get a "left-wing" majority of nearly 400 seats on a lead of 8 points.
And LD voters are far closer to Labour voters than Reform voters are to Conservatives. Indeed, on some topics the remaining Conservative vote ( BigG trad types) are closer to Labour than they are Reform.
I am not close to Labour under any circumstances
I could be to the Lib Dems but I do not agree on their EU policy
Simply I remain a conservative and will vote conservative, unless I can tactically vote out a Labour candidate
Would you vote Reform to beat Labour?
I don't know at this far out but having suffered Labour in Wales for 25 years anybody but Labour could also.include Plaid
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
It's not only abject, it's baffling. They seem entirely surprised that the responsibility for coming up with any sort of plan has fallen into their lap. It's as if they think the civil service actually has loads of great Labour-ish plans that the Tories have been evilly frustrating and all they have to do is step in and not be the Tories and the happy wheels of centrist government will turn again once more.
Seems like Farage has been hoist by his own retard.
That's going way over the heads of pro-Musk PBers.
Very good nonetheless.
As a Musk fanboi (the engineering, not the politics) I have to confess that I am indeed aware of the saying "hoist by his own petard", meaning "blown upwards by his own bomblet"
Look I'm sure he says the wrong thing all the time. I don't actually follow him. But he clearly got purchase from his highlighting of the grooming gangs. Calling for Farage to be removed as leader of Reform is just daft.
I am not at all sure the shareholders of Reform will go for replacing Nigel......
Wes Streeting is a far better teller of the government's story than Starmer or Reeves.
He's a better politician than both. Neither Starmer, who is a better manager nor Reeves who is a highly respected economist, ask Mark Carney, are natural politicians.
Darren Jones and Jonathan Reynolds are as good as Streeting in terms of communicating under pressure but possibly overall higher intellect.
Also a politician that is stuck at health. Cooper's going to hang on, Streeting replacing Reeves would be ludicrous, so I presume he's out to get Lammy?
I think Streeting is really very good, but I don't warm to the man.
Reeves is an interesting one. I’ve got my eye on the possibility of a 2025 exit for her.
As always, “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here but it’s not impossible to visualise a scenario where the economy continues to flatline, inflation is stubborn, Trumps economic policies bite hard and the NI rise causes an uptick in unemployment. I think Reeves has created a hostage to fortune for saying she wouldn’t come back for more tax rises. Another unpopular budget could really spook Labour and might prompt a resignation or dismissal in an effort to relaunch the governments economic policy.
That being said, it is not great for a PM to lose their chancellor. But Starmer has a ruthless streak. I don’t put it past him to jettison cabinet members to try and save his premiership.
Starmer does have a ruthless streak but if he does pull a Harold Wilson then there is no point in sacking Reeves first.
And replacing Reeves with Streeting gives more ammunition to those who say Starmer has a misogynist streak. And Lammy, for all the opprobrium he generates on here, does seem to be getting on with the job, including securing photo-ops with foreign leaders for Starmer while still in opposition.
One other point to bear in mind is the Health job is valued more highly on the Labour benches.
Streeting and Lammy would be no where Chancellor.
Her biggest worry would be in Darren Jones or Jonathan Reynolds are supremely talented individuals deserving of a full Ninesterial role.
There are a great many Labour backbenchers (and junior ministers) feeling they deserve promotion. This might become an issue for Starmer's successor, depending when he retires.
I've pointed out before there are 100 more Labour MPs than available promotions - so eventually a lot of them are going to discover they have wasted the next 3 years of their life and won't even get long term access to Parliament from it...
Used to be you had to wait about 10 years to get close to a front bench position, but now if you are not at least getting close to a Cabinet position by the end of the 1st term you are probably not going to be a high flyer and you'll never make it. You need those junior ministerial posts within the next 3 years or so.
People like Sunak, Truss, and Starmer, were getting into the Cabinet after 4 years or less (Starmer was an extreme case getting a senior shadow cabinet position essentially immediately).
Trying to buy a PC monitor, budget about £300. This is near impossible with model numbers like 27GP850P-B-M27Q-XG27ACS. Is that the one with the USB-C port? HDMI 2.1? 0.5ms?
Even worse than wireless printers IMO. Even reddit can't help.
What do you want?
screen resolution FHD, QHD or 4k screen size 24 or 27" purpose - gaming, serious gaming, office work or both...
and what are you planning to connect it to as a Mac requires something different to Windows...
USB-C for MacBook Air, QHD, 27", mainly office work, photo editing and bit of gaming. Gigabyte M27Q is the closest I've got to so far.
Seems like Farage has been hoist by his own retard.
That's going way over the heads of pro-Musk PBers.
Very good nonetheless.
As a Musk fanboi (the engineering, not the politics) I have to confess that I am indeed aware of the saying "hoist by his own petard", meaning "blown upwards by his own bomblet"
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
It's not only abject, it's baffling. They seem entirely surprised that the responsibility for coming up with any sort of plan has fallen into their lap. It's as if they think the civil service actually has loads of great Labour-ish plans that the Tories have been evilly frustrating and all they have to do is step in and not be the Tories and the happy wheels of centrist government will turn again once more.
Yes. I was trying to think of a good analogy
It's like a soccer fan watching an England game and thinking "that Gareth Southgate, he has an easy job, flying around the world first class, hanging out with sports stars, £1m a year, I could do that, in fact it looks great"
Then they get the job and arrive at FA HQ and they ask the receptionist for all the new tactics for the squad, and they ask the chuaffeur for the next team selection, and seem surprised when they are met with total surprise, then horror
I reckon Musk just has a Magic 8-Ball and uses that to decide who he's got it in for on X on any given day.
If you note the timing of his tweets, they are often very late at night in Austin, TX (where he mainly lives, IIRC) or indeed anywhere in the USA
The rumour is that he spends half the night getting *pepped up*, hence the insane number of angry tweets he sometimes emits, at these odd hours - and often aimed at the EU/UK, because we are already awake, so he can see an immediate response
Just a rumour, mind
It's pretty believable. It definitely doesn't seem like some kind of grand strategy.
I really hope no-one's expecting me to say: "Oh, Musk has done a good thing; I suddenly like him now."
The Afrikaner should just concentrate on abusing stewardesses.
I think people are REALLY disappointed that some people just don't like people interfering in our democracy, doesn't matter who they are interfering for/against.
It's called having principles. Elon should try it.
Can’t see how this harms Farage given Musk still seems to think Robinson is a political prisoner.
LOL. Part of the Farage shtick is hanging out with the big boyz. It's what, at least in part, giving him the big mo. Plus the prospect of a few dollars more.
It's obvs not terminal. But a big slap nonetheless. Kemi will be having a laugh.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
I suppose the main issue is that he has done little to justify his majority. That's a result of a split opposition. He has no vision, no plan and cant take people with him as a result. He's the Chauncey Gardener of UK politics,
Not really - if you add all the Reform votes to the Conservatives, and all the Lib Dem votes to Labour, you still get a "left-wing" majority of nearly 400 seats on a lead of 8 points.
And LD voters are far closer to Labour voters than Reform voters are to Conservatives. Indeed, on some topics the remaining Conservative vote ( BigG trad types) are closer to Labour than they are Reform.
I am not close to Labour under any circumstances
I could be to the Lib Dems but I do not agree on their EU policy
Simply I remain a conservative and will vote conservative, unless I can tactically vote out a Labour candidate
Would you vote Reform to beat Labour?
I don't know at this far out but having suffered Labour in Wales for 25 years anybody but Labour could also.include Plaid
If we've got to the point where ballistic missiles are being fired at the UK then we are already well into Threads.
I'd have thought that drones were much more of a practical problem given how cheaply they can be made.
I’d suggest the barrier to entry for that kind of thing is going to drop moderately quickly. SpaceX are already 3d printing large parts of their engines - which suggests a reasonable technical university will have that ability in a decade and it’ll be entering the artisanal fabrication space within a decade of that.
3D printing is, by itself, a red herring. You can buy huge machines that will print parts in nearly any metal - let alone plastic. The process is slow and only makes sense for parts with very convoluted designs.
It’s also quite expensive.
Multi axis CNC is faster and better, if it can be used. 3D printed parts usual require multiple post printing steps to make them usable. Modern CNC can actually polish to final finish, complete with controlled surface hardening.
But again, this is a red herring.
These technologies are already commoditised.
Drones aren’t the panacea that some make out, either. And they are an old concept as well.
It how you employ existing things. And institutional inertia.
When Tory Bruno saw the Raptor 3 engine, he thought it was incomplete. Because rocket engines aren’t built like that. That’s not how people do things.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
It's not only abject, it's baffling. They seem entirely surprised that the responsibility for coming up with any sort of plan has fallen into their lap. It's as if they think the civil service actually has loads of great Labour-ish plans that the Tories have been evilly frustrating and all they have to do is step in and not be the Tories and the happy wheels of centrist government will turn again once more.
It gets worse. I would vote Labour again tomorrow (LDs no chance in my seat) as the other option for government doesn't come close to being as decent as the Labour or Lab/LD one. This is not cheering. Labour have much to prove, but the Tories have massively more.
Can’t see how this harms Farage given Musk still seems to think Robinson is a political prisoner.
LOL. Part of the Farage shtick is hanging out with the big boyz. It's what, at least in part, giving him the big mo. Plus the prospect of a few dollars more.
It's obvs not terminal. But a big slap nonetheless. Kemi will be having a laugh.
I wonder if Musk will get behind a Tory. Kemi, or Jenrick
However as we have seen, having Musk's support is like being defended by a someone with the loosest of loose cannons, as likely to blow your head off as shoot the enemy
What they all want, however, is his money. Trump included
Damn it, dismantling Christmas trees is depressing...
I quite enjoy it. Gives the house a feeling of minimality and spaciousness. Makes me think of the denoument of the Julia Donaldson book "a squash and a squeeze." Better than usual this year because for the first time in ten years or so we had a real tree, giving me the chance to wield a saw and vaguely imagine myself as some frontiersman with actual skills.
Tsk - you don't dismantle it until after Epiphany, which is tomorrow.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
I suppose the main issue is that he has done little to justify his majority. That's a result of a split opposition. He has no vision, no plan and cant take people with him as a result. He's the Chauncey Gardener of UK politics,
Not really - if you add all the Reform votes to the Conservatives, and all the Lib Dem votes to Labour, you still get a "left-wing" majority of nearly 400 seats on a lead of 8 points.
And LD voters are far closer to Labour voters than Reform voters are to Conservatives. Indeed, on some topics the remaining Conservative vote ( BigG trad types) are closer to Labour than they are Reform.
I am not close to Labour under any circumstances
I could be to the Lib Dems but I do not agree on their EU policy
Simply I remain a conservative and will vote conservative, unless I can tactically vote out a Labour candidate
Would you vote Reform to beat Labour?
I don't know at this far out but having suffered Labour in Wales for 25 years anybody but Labour could also.include Plaid
I'll mark you down as a yes then.
Do whatever you want if it contributes to your well being
You've already had to apologise to me this week after making a wholly false and wrong accusation, so another one incoming when I vote Plaid which is a very real prospect
Watching the events in Kursk on Twix is both interesting and grimly funny. Some Russian sources saying the attack has been eliminated, whilst others say the Ukrainians are going for the Kursk nuclear power plant (yeah, right). Ukrainian sources fairly silent, as ever. The same drone footage showing, according to the captions, either a Ukrainian column being eliminated, or a Russian one.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
It's not only abject, it's baffling. They seem entirely surprised that the responsibility for coming up with any sort of plan has fallen into their lap. It's as if they think the civil service actually has loads of great Labour-ish plans that the Tories have been evilly frustrating and all they have to do is step in and not be the Tories and the happy wheels of centrist government will turn again once more.
Yes. I was trying to think of a good analogy
It's like a soccer fan watching an England game and thinking "that Gareth Southgate, he has an easy job, flying around the world first class, hanging out with sports stars, £1m a year, I could do that, in fact it looks great"
Then they get the job and arrive at FA HQ and they ask the receptionist for all the new tactics for the squad, and they ask the chuaffeur for the next team selection, and seem surprised when they are met with total surprise, then horror
There is a significant number of very senior Labour figures we might assume they have been getting back room advice from for many years. Blair, Campbell, Brown, George Robertson, Straw, Balls and lots of others who are all, of course, flawed but not idiots. Odd.
/2 This also explains the apparently irrational, dishonest and inept decisions of both the Post Office Management and indeed the Ministers who were supposedly overlooking them. Their duty, as I think they saw it, was to protect the institution that they were being paid to look after. The consequences of an early admission of fault would have been awful for a body that was once again struggling to survive. The inevitable response was to prevaricate, lie, deceive and to put off the day when the thistle had to be grasped, even as it grew. This is, of course, reprehensible, but all too understandable when put in that context. I very much doubt we will see much of that context in the Inquiry report.
For these reasons I would be cautious about emphasising the importance of implementing the recommendations of all inquiries. Their viewpoints are distorted by both their reference and their context (a disaster). Whilst the points can and should be made and some things learned those in charge of the operation are not given the resources to implement them nor will there be much public good if their implementation simply means neglect somewhere else. I think, with some hesitation, that we should pause before we climb on yet another outrage bus and try to think through the implications.
Which is a nice summation of “we can’t change stuff”
Which is how we will get Reform as a government.
This gives us
1) the problem is complex and the answers difficult. 2) so nothing can be done 3) since nothing can be done, it’s unfair to make those legally responsible pay a penalty for their actions.
The savage anger this engenders can just be ignored, of course.
Worth noting that Parliament used primary legislation to declare the SPO innocent. Because the System continued to fight.
I can easily see a future populist government using such a mechanism to go after those they judge guilty. The ghost of Strafford…..
Damn it, dismantling Christmas trees is depressing...
I quite enjoy it. Gives the house a feeling of minimality and spaciousness. Makes me think of the denoument of the Julia Donaldson book "a squash and a squeeze." Better than usual this year because for the first time in ten years or so we had a real tree, giving me the chance to wield a saw and vaguely imagine myself as some frontiersman with actual skills.
Tsk - you don't dismantle it until after Epiphany, which is tomorrow.
The best bit of Christmas is the 'long Christmas' going up to Candlemas on 2nd February. Junk dry January and quietly enjoy stuff in whatever good company you can find withouit the frenetic commercial junk.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Fair enough. It's because he has no plan nor underlying theory, other than a set of metropolitan elite cliches. Let me explain
NO PLAN He wants to use hydrogen, which is colossally stupid. He wants to extract carbon dioxide/monoxide(?) from the air and burn it underground, which is colossally stupid. He wants to privatise the NHS, or less emotionally integrate private medicine into it, which is colossally stupid in the medium term (see "Late Soviet Britain" for an explanation). He neglects the big picture stuff (a noncompetent defence, a mobile emigrating workforce, the aging population, the lack of a National Care Service, a state reliant on massive inward migration, the level of debt, the inability to collect tax, the rise of transnational politics) in favour of salon politics
NO ABILITY He keeps thinking he has power, but he hasn't built up the political capital (a feeling that the government is on the right path). Instead of addressing this he gads about the world pointlessly, making promises he shouldn't (money to compensate for slavery!) whilst Streeting is on maneuvers for his job because Streeting knows which side the bread is buttered.
I am tearing my hair out over this. You guys should be left wing, for pity's sake. But you don't know how to fly the plane.
Odds Labour introduces PR in 2028, have we thought about this?
Currently a Tory and Reform government is more likely under PR than FPTP while Labour would almost certainly lose its majority under PR on current polls whereas with FPTP has a 50% chance of retaining its majority, albeit reduced, on current polls.
Watching the events in Kursk on Twix is both interesting and grimly funny. Some Russian sources saying the attack has been eliminated, whilst others say the Ukrainians are going for the Kursk nuclear power plant (yeah, right). Ukrainian sources fairly silent, as ever. The same drone footage showing, according to the captions, either a Ukrainian column being eliminated, or a Russian one.
In short, it's as clear as mud.
And if we've learned anything from this war it is that Ukrainian mud is particularly extreme.
I really hope no-one's expecting me to say: "Oh, Musk has done a good thing; I suddenly like him now."
The Afrikaner should just concentrate on abusing stewardesses.
It’s interesting that Musk is completing a sort of trinity of political influence at the highest levels by non-American media moguls from the former British colonies. Men who become more American than the Americans as they age. The Australian Murdoch being the archetype, alongside the Canadian Conrad Black.
Now we have a Saffer. We need a Kiwi to complete the set.
Damn it, dismantling Christmas trees is depressing...
I quite enjoy it. Gives the house a feeling of minimality and spaciousness. Makes me think of the denoument of the Julia Donaldson book "a squash and a squeeze." Better than usual this year because for the first time in ten years or so we had a real tree, giving me the chance to wield a saw and vaguely imagine myself as some frontiersman with actual skills.
Tsk - you don't dismantle it until after Epiphany, which is tomorrow.
That's not how I understand it! I thought you had to dismantle it before epiphany. I'm aware that they did things differently in the olden days and that once upon a time advent was a period of abstemiousness and your decs went up on Christmas Eve and the 12 days of Christmas were a period of excess followed by another period of relative excess lasting until 2nd Feb (Michaelmas). But nowadays I thought it was considered bad luck not to have them down before 12th night.
I really hope no-one's expecting me to say: "Oh, Musk has done a good thing; I suddenly like him now."
The Afrikaner should just concentrate on abusing stewardesses.
It’s interesting that Musk is completing a sort of trinity of political influence at the highest levels by non-American media moguls from the former British colonies. Men who become more American than the Americans as they age. The Australian Murdoch being the archetype, alongside the Canadian Conrad Black.
Now we have a Saffer. We need a Kiwi to complete the set.
Hang on, there were lots more colonies than that. Even discounting the ones that have gone. Anguilla, Falklands, Gib ...
Seems like Farage has been hoist by his own retard.
That's going way over the heads of pro-Musk PBers.
Very good nonetheless.
As a Musk fanboi (the engineering, not the politics) I have to confess that I am indeed aware of the saying "hoist by his own petard", meaning "blown upwards by his own bomblet"
I actually knew somebody blown up by his own petard. In mid-50s France on a school exchange. Making the most of absence of restrictions and ordering Pschitts and Noilly Prats in cafes and smoking Gauloises, there were also tabac kiosks which had a line in handy fire crackers, "pétards". You struck them on a matchbox and threw them wherever for a satisfying bang. One lad had his jacket pocket filled with them only to discover that they could spontaneously combust. Literally hoist by his own petard. Fortunately not badly injured but his school blazer was in ruins.
I really hope no-one's expecting me to say: "Oh, Musk has done a good thing; I suddenly like him now."
The Afrikaner should just concentrate on abusing stewardesses.
It’s interesting that Musk is completing a sort of trinity of political influence at the highest levels by non-American media moguls from the former British colonies. Men who become more American than the Americans as they age. The Australian Murdoch being the archetype, alongside the Canadian Conrad Black.
Now we have a Saffer. We need a Kiwi to complete the set.
Hang on, there were lots more colonies than that. Even discounting the ones that have gone. Anguilla, Falklands, Gib ...
Far too much deflection going on. Blaming Musk simply won't do. Whatever his faults he has simply drawn attention to an issue that has been disgracefully under-reported, both in terms of the crimes but in particular the institutional failings which are inexplicable and have never been properly evaluated. If you doubt the failings of the mainstream media on this consider that a few weeks ago we had sentencing from Rotherham involving some truly unspeakable crimes against children that was totally ignored by the mainstream media other than GB News and their dogged reporter Charlie Peters. Please let that sink in, particularly if you are of the GBeebies school of thought. Sometimes the establishment should just hold it's hands up and say we've let you down. Instead the stubbornness and arrogance with which they continue to behave will be their undoing. I'm not entirely sure I like the alternative that's presented but it's where we are heading unless something changes.
Denis McShane (admittedly a former jailbird) said there was a reluctance to 'rock the multicultural community boat'. I'm not sure I buy that. Are our leaders really as ideologically obsessed as that? Because that is what it would have to be. After 9/11, 7/7 and much else? The more obvious explanation is party politics. Everyone knows that they 'weigh' the Labour votes in predominantly Muslim areas. This could have caused the party major unease. And what of the failures Tories? Here we might look to the much admired (if not for much longer) Chris Mullin. He tweets today that GB News and the Telegraph are jumping on the Musk bandwagon and politics is about to get nastier. Ultimately politics is a vocation for gentlemen. The last thing you want to do is draw attention to unseemly issues that might lower the tone. In such instances it means things must be avoided. Until they can't be. But blaming Musk in this instance is simply shooting the messenger.
There is nothing new about the left attacking the right. They think it is their right to do it and to do it with impunity. Musk is actually making politics nicer. People who asked such wonders as how many children Boris had, or wondered who would F*** Ann Widdicombe or tried to justify the last budget really deserve all they will get, especially the loathsome Ian Hislop who must be waiting for a special circle in hell.
Indeed. It really is as simple as that. And for all the hyperventilation about Jenrick he is saying the basic if uncomfortable truth
He’s ALSO a conniving rat of a politician who is shamelessly exploiting a national scandal and hoping to position himself to take over from Kemi in a year when the country has swung hard right and the Tories will need to unite with Reform
Muslims have no place in Britain is the message. It's neither true nor (for those saying it) uncomfortable. The opposite in fact on both counts.
No he doesn’t. In the tweet we are discussing he says
“The foreign nationals responsible must be deported”
That’s as far as he gets to your absurd caricature. Maybe he has said more outrageous things elsewhere? If so, citation required
Read the whole thing. The message is pretty clear. Of course he's built in some deniability with how he's crafted it. Dog whistling is a key skill for any politician of that ilk.
If Elon Musk isn't just raising these issues to attack Labour, then why in the entire period of Tory Government did he never raise anything like this before.
The grooming gangs story didn't come out last week.
Anyone saying otherwise is either radicalised, blind or just don't care as secretly they enjoy Labour being attacked (as somebody said here literally a few days ago).
The reality is, attacking Labour just makes people turn off. Propose some alternative plans otherwise people will simply say "you had fourteen years".
Reform to their credit have the most reasonable case to make but I just disagree with every single solution they propose. Kemi Badenoch is just jumping on bandwagons and it really shows.
If I were to bet something, her ratings will be extremely poor by this time next year.
This has been explained to you. The gangs story emerged because of one paragraph of one judicial sentencing remarks (in Oxford) going viral due to its being so indescribably awful
This virality got the attention of many, and many then had to explain the entire “grooming gangs” scandal from alpha to omega. The utter gobsmacking scale of it and stunning horror of it, and the abject banana republic failure of the UK state to deal with it properly - over decades - got major social media figures (especially Americans, not all) wading in
Britain is now an object of initial contempt and loathing. It’s really not good. See here
“This sort of thing is bound to be very anecdotal; but my very apolitical friends in Canada are asking me to explain what is wrong with the UK, having read about the grooming gangs, and I can't really begin to explain.”
A child molester who abused two Asian girls was rightly given a longer sentence than if his victims had been white because Asian sex crime victims suffer more, a leading judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Walker said it was proper for paedophile Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir to have been given a tougher than normal sentence because his victims were Asian.
The judge who jailed him, Sally Cahill QC, specifically said that the fact the victims were Asian had been factored in as an "aggravating feature" when passing sentence.
She stated that the victims and their families had suffered particular "shame" in their communities because of what had happened to them.
Additionally, there were cultural concerns that the girls' future prospects of being regarded as a "good catch" for arranged marriages might be damaged.
Ouch, the BBC have just pushed a notification out via their app on Elon dumping Nigel.
Maybe Farage is a lucky general? I wonder if 'peak Musk' was a little time ago? Martian colony may start sounding a good idea for his next move.
It's great news for the Tories tbh. This is like all the Momentum drama Labour went through, but this time they are going to purge themselves rather than require a Starmer figure to do it.
If Elon Musk isn't just raising these issues to attack Labour, then why in the entire period of Tory Government did he never raise anything like this before.
The grooming gangs story didn't come out last week.
Anyone saying otherwise is either radicalised, blind or just don't care as secretly they enjoy Labour being attacked (as somebody said here literally a few days ago).
The reality is, attacking Labour just makes people turn off. Propose some alternative plans otherwise people will simply say "you had fourteen years".
Reform to their credit have the most reasonable case to make but I just disagree with every single solution they propose. Kemi Badenoch is just jumping on bandwagons and it really shows.
If I were to bet something, her ratings will be extremely poor by this time next year.
This has been explained to you. The gangs story emerged because of one paragraph of one judicial sentencing remarks (in Oxford) going viral due to its being so indescribably awful
This virality got the attention of many, and many then had to explain the entire “grooming gangs” scandal from alpha to omega. The utter gobsmacking scale of it and stunning horror of it, and the abject banana republic failure of the UK state to deal with it properly - over decades - got major social media figures (especially Americans, not all) wading in
Britain is now an object of initial contempt and loathing. It’s really not good. See here
“This sort of thing is bound to be very anecdotal; but my very apolitical friends in Canada are asking me to explain what is wrong with the UK, having read about the grooming gangs, and I can't really begin to explain.”
A child molester who abused two Asian girls was rightly given a longer sentence than if his victims had been white because Asian sex crime victims suffer more, a leading judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Walker said it was proper for paedophile Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir to have been given a tougher than normal sentence because his victims were Asian.
The judge who jailed him, Sally Cahill QC, specifically said that the fact the victims were Asian had been factored in as an "aggravating feature" when passing sentence.
She stated that the victims and their families had suffered particular "shame" in their communities because of what had happened to them.
Additionally, there were cultural concerns that the girls' future prospects of being regarded as a "good catch" for arranged marriages might be damaged.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
It is abject. They literally have no idea what to do about anything. I mean, I voted for this shit (more fool me). But I thoutht at the very least "they'll be tediously competent in a twiddling kind of way, and they'll have a good plan for the NHS, if nothing else, after all they've been in Opposition 14 years"
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
It's not only abject, it's baffling. They seem entirely surprised that the responsibility for coming up with any sort of plan has fallen into their lap. It's as if they think the civil service actually has loads of great Labour-ish plans that the Tories have been evilly frustrating and all they have to do is step in and not be the Tories and the happy wheels of centrist government will turn again once more.
It gets worse. I would vote Labour again tomorrow (LDs no chance in my seat) as the other option for government doesn't come close to being as decent as the Labour or Lab/LD one. This is not cheering. Labour have much to prove, but the Tories have massively more.
In my view the current lot are just as rubbish as the Sunak government at governing - but have also come with added "pay £800m a year to give away the Chagos Islands" and added "trash private education" and added "trash state education".
The 22-24 Tories were a low bar but Labour are limboing effortlessly under them.
Seems like Farage has been hoist by his own retard.
That's going way over the heads of pro-Musk PBers.
Very good nonetheless.
As a Musk fanboi (the engineering, not the politics) I have to confess that I am indeed aware of the saying "hoist by his own petard", meaning "blown upwards by his own bomblet"
I actually knew somebody blown up by his own petard. In mid-50s France on a school exchange. Making the most of absence of restrictions and ordering Pschitts and Noilly Prats in cafes and smoking Gauloises, there were also tabac kiosks which had a line in handy fire crackers, "pétards". You struck them on a matchbox and threw them wherever for a satisfying bang. One lad had his jacket pocket filled with them only to discover that they could spontaneously combust. Literally hoist by his own petard. Fortunately not badly injured but his school blazer was in ruins.
An interesting development - not wholly a disaster for NF.
Very embarrassing though
Not wholly a disaster... Pmsl... Musk and those photos with Farage and Trump and Farage and Candy and Musk with Epstein will hang around Farage neck like a Political semtex necklace until Farage last days.
Far too much deflection going on. Blaming Musk simply won't do. Whatever his faults he has simply drawn attention to an issue that has been disgracefully under-reported, both in terms of the crimes but in particular the institutional failings which are inexplicable and have never been properly evaluated. If you doubt the failings of the mainstream media on this consider that a few weeks ago we had sentencing from Rotherham involving some truly unspeakable crimes against children that was totally ignored by the mainstream media other than GB News and their dogged reporter Charlie Peters. Please let that sink in, particularly if you are of the GBeebies school of thought. Sometimes the establishment should just hold it's hands up and say we've let you down. Instead the stubbornness and arrogance with which they continue to behave will be their undoing. I'm not entirely sure I like the alternative that's presented but it's where we are heading unless something changes.
Denis McShane (admittedly a former jailbird) said there was a reluctance to 'rock the multicultural community boat'. I'm not sure I buy that. Are our leaders really as ideologically obsessed as that? Because that is what it would have to be. After 9/11, 7/7 and much else? The more obvious explanation is party politics. Everyone knows that they 'weigh' the Labour votes in predominantly Muslim areas. This could have caused the party major unease. And what of the failures Tories? Here we might look to the much admired (if not for much longer) Chris Mullin. He tweets today that GB News and the Telegraph are jumping on the Musk bandwagon and politics is about to get nastier. Ultimately politics is a vocation for gentlemen. The last thing you want to do is draw attention to unseemly issues that might lower the tone. In such instances it means things must be avoided. Until they can't be. But blaming Musk in this instance is simply shooting the messenger.
There is nothing new about the left attacking the right. They think it is their right to do it and to do it with impunity. Musk is actually making politics nicer. People who asked such wonders as how many children Boris had, or wondered who would F*** Ann Widdicombe or tried to justify the last budget really deserve all they will get, especially the loathsome Ian Hislop who must be waiting for a special circle in hell.
Indeed. It really is as simple as that. And for all the hyperventilation about Jenrick he is saying the basic if uncomfortable truth
He’s ALSO a conniving rat of a politician who is shamelessly exploiting a national scandal and hoping to position himself to take over from Kemi in a year when the country has swung hard right and the Tories will need to unite with Reform
Muslims have no place in Britain is the message. It's neither true nor (for those saying it) uncomfortable. The opposite in fact on both counts.
I haven't seen Jenrick's latest remarks though I doubt that is what he actually said. But again all your are doing is ignoring the actual issue and instead insinuating motives for the opposition. That ain't good enough.
I'm not ignoring the issue. I'm highlighting it. The concerted attempt to use the grooming gangs scandal to promote far right politics in this country.
Can’t see how this harms Farage given Musk still seems to think Robinson is a political prisoner.
LOL. Part of the Farage shtick is hanging out with the big boyz. It's what, at least in part, giving him the big mo. Plus the prospect of a few dollars more.
It's obvs not terminal. But a big slap nonetheless. Kemi will be having a laugh.
I wonder if Musk will get behind a Tory. Kemi, or Jenrick
However as we have seen, having Musk's support is like being defended by a someone with the loosest of loose cannons, as likely to blow your head off as shoot the enemy
What they all want, however, is his money. Trump included
If Farage is junked, or junks himself, that's great news for the Tories.
No-one else has anything like his cut through, and neithee Lee Anderson or Richard Tice could do anything more than the Paul Nuttall 2.0
Ouch, the BBC have just pushed a notification out via their app on Elon dumping Nigel.
Maybe Farage is a lucky general? I wonder if 'peak Musk' was a little time ago? Martian colony may start sounding a good idea for his next move.
It's great news for the Tories tbh. This is like all the Momentum drama Labour went through, but this time they are going to purge themselves rather than require a Starmer figure to do it.
Potentially, the story certainly has national prominence and has made the main news bulletins.
It’s a little more than a westminster bubble thing.
How can anyone not love test match cricket? Pakistan 194 all out first innings forced to follow on. Now 194/0, Totally unpredictable and surprising, especially when the men in Green are on the field.
What I find most trying, is that people are not prepared to look at the case for why Starmer might end up being successful (I put this at 50/50), instead they just bleat "he is crap".
He reformed the Labour party in five years, no other leader has ever done that and been as successful as him. I wish people would question why, as opposed to just shouting.
Because he has no evidence of owning a plan, or even an idea - see social care now shunted off to 2028 - and indeed the Times has just revealed he came into office and was horrified to discover “there was no plan”
In the absence of this we have had six months of dithering and grift and then a catastrophic budget. What makes you think it’s going to change?
I'd have been far less concerned if he had said 2027, as it is a big problem to resolve and has been ignored for years. But given we can near definitely expect delays a plan for 2028 would surely be late 2028 at best, if not 2029, and I just don't buy any government in this era would make a major decision like that within 6-12 months of an election.
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
The inquiry won’t learn anything new. We know what the solution is. But the Treasury won’t fund it as Osborne’s branding of Dilnott as a “death tax” and labours response to mays proposals as a “dementia tax” have made a specific tax very challenging
How can anyone not love test match cricket? Pakistan 194 all out first innings forced to follow on. Now 194/0, Totally unpredictable and surprising, especially when the men in Green are on the field.
The ability to turn things around, however unlikely, that is what Test Cricket offers which other forms do not.
The death of Jimmy Carter just days before Trump's inauguration does seem extraordinarily timed. Could imagine Don DeLillo using it in a novel.
It's as if part of America just died. Something that was authentic, good-natured, honest and well-disposed, displaced by the tawdry, contrived, dishonest and malign.
Don't get me wrong. Carter was a bit of a duffer and the presidency overwhelmed him. Reagan deserved to win. That was an inflection point in itself.
But the gulf between the well-meaning Carter and 45/47, well, that's summat else.
Damn it, dismantling Christmas trees is depressing...
I quite enjoy it. Gives the house a feeling of minimality and spaciousness. Makes me think of the denoument of the Julia Donaldson book "a squash and a squeeze." Better than usual this year because for the first time in ten years or so we had a real tree, giving me the chance to wield a saw and vaguely imagine myself as some frontiersman with actual skills.
Tsk - you don't dismantle it until after Epiphany, which is tomorrow.
That's not how I understand it! I thought you had to dismantle it before epiphany. I'm aware that they did things differently in the olden days and that once upon a time advent was a period of abstemiousness and your decs went up on Christmas Eve and the 12 days of Christmas were a period of excess followed by another period of relative excess lasting until 2nd Feb (Michaelmas). But nowadays I thought it was considered bad luck not to have them down before 12th night.
The correct view (2 Feb) is here, from English Heritage:
Can’t see how this harms Farage given Musk still seems to think Robinson is a political prisoner.
LOL. Part of the Farage shtick is hanging out with the big boyz. It's what, at least in part, giving him the big mo. Plus the prospect of a few dollars more.
It's obvs not terminal. But a big slap nonetheless. Kemi will be having a laugh.
I wonder if Musk will get behind a Tory. Kemi, or Jenrick
However as we have seen, having Musk's support is like being defended by a someone with the loosest of loose cannons, as likely to blow your head off as shoot the enemy
What they all want, however, is his money. Trump included
If Farage is junked, or junks himself, that's great news for the Tories.
No-one else has anything like his cut through, and neithee Lee Anderson or Richard Tice could do anything more than the Paul Nuttall 2.0
Farage wont be junked. The worst that can happen is he gets no cash from Musk
Farage made it clear on LK today he is looking at really developing Reform into a proper political party putting in place a structure to support it.
I suspect he thinks his,party can replace the Tories.
Comments
So the fear it is just being punted into the long grass is natural, even if Streeting is correct and that is not the case.
Trump lacks a lot of those skills too but a combination of luck, bluster, and, yes, some core skills (especially in securing a loyal base of support that terrifies any GOP opposition), see him through.
Yet not. Gawd 'elp us
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-27-usb-c-monitor-s2722dc/apd/210-bbrr/monitors-monitor-accessories
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-27-4k-uhd-usb-c-monitor-s2722qc/apd/210-bbrq/monitors-monitor-accessories
Very good nonetheless.
I could see Farage being a very effective campaigner but he would struggle as a PM.
The rumour is that he spends half the night getting *pepped up*, hence the insane number of angry tweets he sometimes emits, at these odd hours - and often aimed at the EU/UK, because we are already awake, so he can see an immediate response
Just a rumour, mind
The issue with Musk is every utterance is breathlessly reported, he doesn't know as much about politics as he thinks he does, and he's addicted to mouthing off on twitter. Throw potential money into the mix and it just gets messy.
Trying to mess with Farage's leadership is an odd move though - like him or loathe him Reform wouldn't be a significant thing without Farage, and even if the premise were true he has taken them as far as he can, other options don't come with Farage's strengths.
But - at the risk of trying to summarise what my book is about - that is why you need to understand human nature a lot better than we do when designing our laws and procedures etc and managing our organisations. You cannot force people to be good but you can make it a lot harder to be bad and catch it early.
At the heart of most of the failures have seen has been human failings and a blindness to why the systems and processes didn't work because they did not take into account how humans behave. It is what good management should be about but so often isn't.
The indifference to human suffering is harder to deal with. Again I think that we have to remember who we are all doing this stuff for. When you have lived through a scandal or tragedy or two and seen the very real impact on other human beings, it becomes easier to understand why they matter. And it is one reason why I made it my business at work to tell the human stories behind the financial cock-ups I was having to sort out. At least based on the reaction I got, people appreciated that and I hope it made a difference to how they understood the rules they were being asked to follow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petard
People like Sunak, Truss, and Starmer, were getting into the Cabinet after 4 years or less (Starmer was an extreme case getting a senior shadow cabinet position essentially immediately).
The Afrikaner should just concentrate on abusing stewardesses.
It's like a soccer fan watching an England game and thinking "that Gareth Southgate, he has an easy job, flying around the world first class, hanging out with sports stars, £1m a year, I could do that, in fact it looks great"
Then they get the job and arrive at FA HQ and they ask the receptionist for all the new tactics for the squad, and they ask the chuaffeur for the next team selection, and seem surprised when they are met with total surprise, then horror
Shocking that it's been a failure.
It's called having principles. Elon should try it.
It's obvs not terminal. But a big slap nonetheless. Kemi will be having a laugh.
It’s also quite expensive.
Multi axis CNC is faster and better, if it can be used. 3D printed parts usual require multiple post printing steps to make them usable. Modern CNC can actually polish to final finish, complete with controlled surface hardening.
But again, this is a red herring.
These technologies are already commoditised.
Drones aren’t the panacea that some make out, either. And they are an old concept as well.
It how you employ existing things. And institutional inertia.
When Tory Bruno saw the Raptor 3 engine, he thought it was incomplete. Because rocket engines aren’t built like that. That’s not how people do things.
Edison had lots of failures, is that how you thibk of him ?
However as we have seen, having Musk's support is like being defended by a someone with the loosest of loose cannons, as likely to blow your head off as shoot the enemy
What they all want, however, is his money. Trump included
I just saw a duke do a tweet. Dukes should exist aloof as monuments to antiquity. A duke who publicly acknowledges the existence of wireless telegraphy should lose his dukedom.
https://nitter.poast.org/yuanyi_z/status/1875682405425803734#m
You've already had to apologise to me this week after making a wholly false and wrong accusation, so another one incoming when I vote Plaid which is a very real prospect
In short, it's as clear as mud.
Which is how we will get Reform as a government.
This gives us
1) the problem is complex and the answers difficult.
2) so nothing can be done
3) since nothing can be done, it’s unfair to make those legally responsible pay a penalty for their actions.
The savage anger this engenders can just be ignored, of course.
Worth noting that Parliament used primary legislation to declare the SPO innocent. Because the System continued to fight.
I can easily see a future populist government using such a mechanism to go after those they judge guilty. The ghost of Strafford…..
NO PLAN
He wants to use hydrogen, which is colossally stupid. He wants to extract carbon dioxide/monoxide(?) from the air and burn it underground, which is colossally stupid. He wants to privatise the NHS, or less emotionally integrate private medicine into it, which is colossally stupid in the medium term (see "Late Soviet Britain" for an explanation). He neglects the big picture stuff (a noncompetent defence, a mobile emigrating workforce, the aging population, the lack of a National Care Service, a state reliant on massive inward migration, the level of debt, the inability to collect tax, the rise of transnational politics) in favour of salon politics
NO ABILITY
He keeps thinking he has power, but he hasn't built up the political capital (a feeling that the government is on the right path). Instead of addressing this he gads about the world pointlessly, making promises he shouldn't (money to compensate for slavery!) whilst Streeting is on maneuvers for his job because Streeting knows which side the bread is buttered.
I am tearing my hair out over this. You guys should be left wing, for pity's sake. But you don't know how to fly the plane.
So no chance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa
An interesting development - not wholly a disaster for NF.
Now we have a Saffer. We need a Kiwi to complete the set.
I'm aware that they did things differently in the olden days and that once upon a time advent was a period of abstemiousness and your decs went up on Christmas Eve and the 12 days of Christmas were a period of excess followed by another period of relative excess lasting until 2nd Feb (Michaelmas). But nowadays I thought it was considered bad luck not to have them down before 12th night.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/05/farage-refuses-to-condemn-free-speech-hero-musks-remarks-on-jess-phillips
Provided he doesn't now row back.
The 22-24 Tories were a low bar but Labour are limboing effortlessly under them.
No Legal attempt to block them will hide them.
No-one else has anything like his cut through, and neithee Lee Anderson or Richard Tice could do anything more than the Paul Nuttall 2.0
It’s a little more than a westminster bubble thing.
It's as if part of America just died. Something that was authentic, good-natured, honest and well-disposed, displaced by the tawdry, contrived, dishonest and malign.
Don't get me wrong. Carter was a bit of a duffer and the presidency overwhelmed him. Reagan deserved to win. That was an inflection point in itself.
But the gulf between the well-meaning Carter and 45/47, well, that's summat else.
https://x.com/almurray/status/1875916561405682017?s=61
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/leaving-up-christmas-decorations/
2 Feb is Candlemas not Michaelmas (29th September)
Farage made it clear on LK today he is looking at really developing Reform into a proper political party putting in place a structure to support it.
I suspect he thinks his,party can replace the Tories.