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It’s all gone a bit Liz Truss – politicalbetting.com

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  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,477
    edited January 17

    It wasn’t a conspiracy - just groupthink. A collective move to “Outsourcing to Chinese manufacturing is good/inevitable.”

    Gradually this became one of cornerstones of the policies of Decent People.

    Some little time ago, the people behind the Raspberry Pi asked for a review of the tariffs on components vs finished items imported from China. Essentially you pay more on bits than on the finished product. Meaning that manufacturing in China is cheaper.

    With some horror, the Foreign Office vetoed changes - “it might upset the Chinese”.
    Despicable. These people should be sacked. And that's one of the kinder options that springs to mind.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,171
    Nigelb said:

    She's had a look - and changed her mind ?
    Surely that's not possible?

    "I never have gaffes... I never have to clarify.. Because I think very carefully about what I say"
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    Leon said:

    Of course it does; ignore this hairy old twat

    Perhaps you shouldn’t have mentioned their age, or nationality either, as that’s not strictly relevant? Like their sexuality?

    In which case your anecdote would be

    “I met two people who like the north German coast”

    Yes, let’s make all of PB like that so we can all die of boredom



    I thought death through boredom was the new PB house rule, following on from the banning of actual political matters.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,003
    Pulpstar said:

    Visited Bayrischzell, Munich & Schliersee a few years back. Lovely part of the world.
    Bavaria is brilliant. Far better than most of the toilets Leon visits. Fancy hotel or not.
  • Surely that's not possible?

    "I never have gaffes... I never have to clarify.. Because I think very carefully about what I say"
    Lots of misleading comments on Kemi Badenoch speech and these were her actual words which are completely sensible and grown.up


    https://x.com/CreEnglish/status/1880253254187282613?t=hEo1l8pOzZinLvZySGjc3g&s=19
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    Leon said:

    It’s fucking terrible

    I still shudder at a Gazette assignment where I did six days luxury cruising down the Rhine

    1. The Rhine is actually less attractive than you expect

    2. The wine is a bit meh, TBH

    3. You soon get bored of castles on the Rhine

    4. Not a single decent meal all week, unless you count currywurst (which I do, coz it’s great)
    Your mistake maybe was taking that cruise.

    You should have gone on foot and occasionally, barge, as Paddy Lee Fermor did in the 30s.

    I absolutely detest currywurst.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840

    Despicable. These people should be sacked. And that's one of the kinder options that springs to mind.
    Sack everyone in government, think tanks, business… sack the consumers for enjoying the cheap imported goods?

    Who exactly is left?

    Society made a collective mistake. Bit like pricing Greek government debt like German government debt - it wasn’t just a couple of blokes at Goldmans. It was whole swathes of people, across Europe and the world.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342
    Like @Gardenwalker I’m quite partial to German food (Wurst, sauerkraut , wiener Schnitzel, smoked pigs’ trotters etc.)

    And, the Bavarian alps are breathtaking.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    TimS said:

    I think that captures it. I always enjoy trips to Germany but they are never exciting. Few things in Germany are the best of their kind in the world.

    Alsace is a bit better and prettier than the Schwarzwald, Switzerland and Austria do better Alps, Poland and Denmark do the Hanseatic look more comprehensively, Berlin is interesting but there are several more exciting European cities.

    One thing it does have that’s right up there is the Mosel river and vineyards. Scenically few places like that other than arguably the Duoro and the Northern Rhone. And further along in Luxembourg.
    They haven’t even got the best Nazi death camps, and this is GERMANY

    I still remember my bitter disappointment when I went to Dachau and I asked to see the gas chambers and they admitted - quite shamefaced, to be fair - that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY. What kind of Nazi death camp doesn’t have gas chambers, FFS? It’s like a theme part without rides. All they could offer was some pathetic torture chamber

    I got so “huffy” I actually asked for a refund, and when they gave me my money back they admitted I wasn’t the first

    For a really cracking Nazi death camp you have to go to Poland, it’s ridiculous, the Germans INVENTED them
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    Leon said:

    They haven’t even got the best Nazi death camps, and this is GERMANY

    I still remember my bitter disappointment when I went to Dachau and I asked to see the gas chambers and they admitted - quite shamefaced, to be fair - that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY. What kind of Nazi death camp doesn’t have gas chambers, FFS? It’s like a theme part without rides. All they could offer was some pathetic torture chamber

    I got so “huffy” I actually asked for a refund, and when they gave me my money back they admitted I wasn’t the first

    For a really cracking Nazi death camp you have to go to Poland, it’s ridiculous, the Germans INVENTED them
    This could make an outstandingly good stand-up routine. Mel Brooks would pay good money for this riff.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295

    This could make an outstandingly good stand-up routine. Mel Brooks would pay good money for this riff.
    I know
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,693
    kjh said:

    Agree about the food.

    On the subject of food I am going to make a whole list of British puddings for friends. I love traditional puddings done well and was going to make a visit to the pudding club, but I'm not sure about it now, so I am going to do it myself to be eaten after long dog walks.

    Yesterday was a Stilton and Walnut tart (made with puff pasty and lots of caramelised onions) followed by Damson Crumble and Bread and Butter pudding. Not had bread and butter pudding since my kids were children.

    Next I am going for a Treacle pudding (Not to be confused with a syrup pudding. Has to be made with black treacle).

    So far I have about 15 on my list.

    Anyway back to the next batch of marmalade making.
    One of my fantasy occupations is opening a small bistro somewhere in deep France, serving up cunningly disguised British classics with French names.

    Shepherds pie (hachis parmentier d'agneau), Lancashire hotpot (marmite d'agneau au gratin), Cornish pasty (pithivier Breton), Welsh Rarebit (well they have that already and call it "Le Welsh"). etc etc. Hot puddings would be harder to disguise - except Le Crumble which is now a French staple - but creme anglaise is easy enough to sell.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,127
    Leon said:

    They haven’t even got the best Nazi death camps, and this is GERMANY

    I still remember my bitter disappointment when I went to Dachau and I asked to see the gas chambers and they admitted - quite shamefaced, to be fair - that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY. What kind of Nazi death camp doesn’t have gas chambers, FFS? It’s like a theme part without rides. All they could offer was some pathetic torture chamber

    I got so “huffy” I actually asked for a refund, and when they gave me my money back they admitted I wasn’t the first

    For a really cracking Nazi death camp you have to go to Poland, it’s ridiculous, the Germans INVENTED them
    Tbf there's quite a bit of denial about gas chambers in camps that actually did have them.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342
    Leon said:

    They haven’t even got the best Nazi death camps, and this is GERMANY

    I still remember my bitter disappointment when I went to Dachau and I asked to see the gas chambers and they admitted - quite shamefaced, to be fair - that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY. What kind of Nazi death camp doesn’t have gas chambers, FFS? It’s like a theme part without rides. All they could offer was some pathetic torture chamber

    I got so “huffy” I actually asked for a refund, and when they gave me my money back they admitted I wasn’t the first

    For a really cracking Nazi death camp you have to go to Poland, it’s ridiculous, the Germans INVENTED them
    I know I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s very good.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902

    Your mistake maybe was taking that cruise.

    You should have gone on foot and occasionally, barge, as Paddy Lee Fermor did in the 30s.

    I absolutely detest currywurst.
    Legacy of the postwar British occupation, I think ?

    The best pizza I ever had was in Düsseldorf four decades ago.
    Fresh baked in stone ovens street food. Do they still do it ?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    Cookie said:

    A friend of mine is fanatical about the German North coast. Says you could go to Cornwall ... or you could go to Germany and have a holiday in Germany which is half the price and so you can therefore afford to do twice the amount of stuff or stay somewhere twice as good. You still get the sandy dreamy summer coastiness, and you also get to explore a slightly different culture.
    Not a massive draw for someone who travels on expenses, I suppose.
    We used to visit the Lubeck area a lot. Quite attractive. Doesn't get that many tourists.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,693

    This could make an outstandingly good stand-up routine. Mel Brooks would pay good money for this riff.
    They do have the best meme-able bunker scene in a film about the last weeks of a losing dictator though.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,785
    Cookie said:

    A friend of mine is fanatical about the German North coast. Says you could go to Cornwall ... or you could go to Germany and have a holiday in Germany which is half the price and so you can therefore afford to do twice the amount of stuff or stay somewhere twice as good. You still get the sandy dreamy summer coastiness, and you also get to explore a slightly different culture.
    Not a massive draw for someone who travels on expenses, I suppose.
    My SiL is from Schwelsig-Holstein, so I have been a few times to the Baltic coast, and also to the Friesan islands. More like North Norfolk than Cornwall, in my opinion, with big flat beaches and dunes, and quite dry but windy summers. Quite pleasant and few foreign tourists, but if it wasn't for family reasons I wouldn't go twice.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    Sandpit said:

    Definitely not a #NU10K revolving door there, not at all.
    The leadership conflict of interest is troubling.

    On Leeds, it's hard to draw conclusions from the story. LGI is a special case in terms of the babies they take in, so higher mortality doesn't by itself necessarily tell a story. The individual stories have more weight, but sadly I suspect there are horror stories from most maternity wards* at the moment.

    You'd need detailed clinical review or, at the very least, modelling with case-mix adjustment to have any idea whether Leeds is anomalous on safety.

    *a somewhat troubling fact as we'll be attending one within the next eight weeks
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840
    Sean_F said:

    I know I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s very good.

    There’s a joke about outsourcing to Russia and then North Korea, in there.

    But no, I won’t.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    Foxy said:

    My SiL is from Schwelsig-Holstein, so I have been a few times to the Baltic coast, and also to the Friesan islands. More like North Norfolk than Cornwall, in my opinion, with big flat beaches and dunes, and quite dry but windy summers. Quite pleasant and few foreign tourists, but if it wasn't for family reasons I wouldn't go twice.
    The lesbians were talking about the Pomeranian coast. Rugen, I think. Been there?
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    TimS said:

    One of my fantasy occupations is opening a small bistro somewhere in deep France, serving up cunningly disguised British classics with French names.

    Shepherds pie (hachis parmentier d'agneau), Lancashire hotpot (marmite d'agneau au gratin), Cornish pasty (pithivier Breton), Welsh Rarebit (well they have that already and call it "Le Welsh"). etc etc. Hot puddings would be harder to disguise - except Le Crumble which is now a French staple - but creme anglaise is easy enough to sell.
    The French have no especial need of this.
    Can you open it in New York?
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,272
    edited January 17
    Cassius Clay as he was then known was asked what his next ambition was:

    "It's to make money while I sleep"

    Thanks to our first woman chancellor there will be many on the sunny Cote d'Azur today doing exactly that.....

    https://www.fxleaders.com/news/2025/01/17/ftse-hits-new-all-time-high-after-8-months-of-wandering/
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840

    The lesbians were talking about the Pomeranian coast. Rugen, I think. Been there?
    Sopot on the Polish Baltic coast is lovely in high summer. As is the barrier island of the Hel Peninsular. Which has the actual highway to Hel…

  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,785
    Nigelb said:

    Legacy of the postwar British occupation, I think ?

    The best pizza I ever had was in Düsseldorf four decades ago.
    Fresh baked in stone ovens street food. Do they still do it ?
    I ate very well in Hamburg in 2023. Particularly good vegan and Vietnamese restaurants, and a lovely city to walk around, with big lakes and parks and a general air of prosperity. Apart from seedy stag parties in St Pauli not a lot of tourists, though I was there really for work.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,003

    Harsher punishments won't work.

    What people actually want is for thieves and vandals not to commit crimes in the first place.

    In the absence of a culture where people don't do that just because it's morally the wrong thing (which is what binds most people), then the most effective answer is not a bloody penal code but the likelihood of them being caught, prosecuted and convicted. For all but lifestyle criminals or those who are desperate, that's enough.
    Break their arms when caught , that will put them off
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    edited January 17
    Sean_F said:

    Like @Gardenwalker I’m quite partial to German food (Wurst, sauerkraut , wiener Schnitzel, smoked pigs’ trotters etc.)

    And, the Bavarian alps are breathtaking.

    When I lived in Vienna there were stands everywhere selling that sort of thing. The smell and the sizzle made it hard to resist (esp in the winter months) and I rarely did. I'd say on most days during my time there I'd have a sausage of some sort in the open air.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    Sean_F said:

    I know I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s very good.

    Thankyou, kind of you, in the circumstances

    The key to the joke is the idea that some visitor would be so "cheesed off" at the lack of gas chambers in Dachau, they would volubly ask for their money back
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,693
    edited January 17
    Ed Davey is presumably not unhappy that Richard Tice has chosen to have a Twitter spat with him. In fact it probably helps both of them politically.

    https://x.com/EdwardJDavey/status/1880253982725271851

    The Trump discourse will be interesting in the next 4 years because neither of the 2 main parties will be able to speak or post completely openly on it. They'll be held back by diplomacy. So Lib Dem vs Reform becomes a sort of proxy war.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342
    TimS said:

    They do have the best meme-able bunker scene in a film about the last weeks of a losing dictator though.
    It's interesting to compare the German Production Der Wannsee Konferenz with the BBC/HBO remake, Conspiracy, with Kenneth Branagh.

    The latter is certainly better television, more gripping, but the former is, I suspect, closer to the reality. Seedy little men, sharing seedy little jokes, as they plan genocide. Evil is more often banal than it is charismatic.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,003
    Leon said:

    They haven’t even got the best Nazi death camps, and this is GERMANY

    I still remember my bitter disappointment when I went to Dachau and I asked to see the gas chambers and they admitted - quite shamefaced, to be fair - that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY. What kind of Nazi death camp doesn’t have gas chambers, FFS? It’s like a theme part without rides. All they could offer was some pathetic torture chamber

    I got so “huffy” I actually asked for a refund, and when they gave me my money back they admitted I wasn’t the first

    For a really cracking Nazi death camp you have to go to Poland, it’s ridiculous, the Germans INVENTED them
    Given it is free to get in , hmmmm
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 891

    Lots of misleading comments on Kemi Badenoch speech and these were her actual words which are completely sensible and grown.up


    https://x.com/CreEnglish/status/1880253254187282613?t=hEo1l8pOzZinLvZySGjc3g&s=19
    The standard of reporting by mainstream media in this country is absolutely appalling!
    Sadly to my disappointment, not least because it's not as funny, she has been abysmally misquoted and what she said was coherent! At least on this occasion.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,785

    The lesbians were talking about the Pomeranian coast. Rugen, I think. Been there?
    No, North of the Kiel canal.

    In Rugen you can stay in a reconditioned Nazi holiday resort, if that is your thing.

    https://www.dw.com/en/the-colossus-of-prora-from-nazi-ruin-to-holiday-resort/a-50199173

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/drink-limit-airports/

    The way to deal with the problem of drunken passengers on planes is to ban those particular people from flying again. It is not to implement a blanket ban on everyone else from drinking more than two glasses of beer, wine, etc. Punish the guilty people, not everyone else. Of course, organisations love implementing those type of bans on everyone because it means they don't have to go to the trouble of proving that the troublemakers have actually done what they're accused of. That's too much like hard work for these companies.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,813
    edited January 17
    TimS said:

    I think that captures it. I always enjoy trips to Germany but they are never exciting. Few things in Germany are the best of their kind in the world.

    Alsace is a bit better and prettier than the Schwarzwald, Switzerland and Austria do better Alps, Poland and Denmark do the Hanseatic look more comprehensively, Berlin is interesting but there are several more exciting European cities.

    One thing it does have that’s right up there is the Mosel river and vineyards. Scenically few places like that other than arguably the Duoro and the Northern Rhone. And further along in Luxembourg.
    I really like German cities. I think they are what cities should be, and often aren't. Good museums, nice parks, plenty of recreation, working transport systems, shops you might want to buy stuff at etc. There's usually some kind of festival running.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342
    edited January 17

    Royal Bank of Canada report on the UK:

    "The UK is a country with the reserves in the North Sea to be self-sufficient in gas for many years to come. Yet oil companies are being stymied in developing new fields due to a nihilistic climate agenda. Nihilistic, in that such obstruction means that the UK is forced to import LNG from far afield – only adding to Scope 3 emissions in the process."

    Why on earth is the country embarked on suicidal self inflicted impoverishment?

    There will be a bunch of bureaucrats, somewhere, who make a good living out of preventing such projects.

    In our economy, there are very many people who make a good living through regulation, imposing obstacles, writing policy papers, bidding for funding and advising others on bidding from funding, as opposed to inventing, and running businesses at a profit.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,693

    The French have no especial need of this.
    Can you open it in New York?
    I could, but the shepherd's pie would be $45 before the 30% gratuity.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,534

    YouGov’s German MRP poll is out:

    https://x.com/yougov/status/1880198389411008747

    image

    If Germany had FPTP then it would be a CDU/CSU landslide majority. On that poll they are forecast to win 208 constituencies, the AfD 50 and the SPD just 35 with the Greens on 5 and Left 1.

    As Germany has PR though it is likely to mean a hung parliament and another Union and SPD grand coalition government, as has been the case since 2005 with the brief interruption of the 2009-2013 Union and FDP government and the current SPD, FDP and Green government.

    The AfD would be clear main Opposition though to the Union and SPD
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    kinabalu said:

    When I lived in Vienna there were stands everywhere selling that sort of thing. The smell and the sizzle made it hard to resist (esp in the winter months) and I rarely did. I'd say on most days during my time there I'd have a sausage of some sort in the open air.
    The sausages are genuinely excellent

    And the beer is consistently good

    So you can have a nice gastronomic time in Germany if you consume only sausages and beer - which doesn't sound hideous, in truth: at least for a weekend
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,693
    edited January 17
    Foxy said:

    No, North of the Kiel canal.

    In Rugen you can stay in a reconditioned Nazi holiday resort, if that is your thing.

    https://www.dw.com/en/the-colossus-of-prora-from-nazi-ruin-to-holiday-resort/a-50199173

    I've had to drive up that way a couple of times for work, from Hamburg up over the Kiel canal and into the far South of Denmark. Proper back of beyond. Makes Billund seem like a Megalopolis.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840
    Leon said:

    The sausages are genuinely excellent

    And the beer is consistently good

    So you can have a nice gastronomic time in Germany if you consume only sausages and beer - which doesn't sound hideous, in truth: at least for a weekend
    The coffee, bread and pastries in Hamburg are excellent.

    Quite a few of the bakeries are better than their equivalents in France.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    malcolmg said:

    Given it is free to get in , hmmmm
    First I came for the gas chambers
    And I did not see owt
    Because they did not have any
    Then I came for a refund
    And I did not get owt
    Because I had not paid
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,275

    Lots of misleading comments on Kemi Badenoch speech and these were her actual words which are completely sensible and grown.up


    https://x.com/CreEnglish/status/1880253254187282613?t=hEo1l8pOzZinLvZySGjc3g&s=19
    Let’s be honest though, she finds herself clarifying her words a lot.

    Kemi is a bit of a contradiction. On one hand she likes to play up her creds as this straight-talking, brave, out-of-the-box political disruptor. But then when she comes under scrutiny her fall back is too often that she’s been misrepresented, didn’t really mean it, etc etc.

    She needs to decide what she wants to be. As I’ve been said before, in many ways she can be an engaging and interesting politician but engaging in doublethink torpedos her USP.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    malcolmg said:

    Given it is free to get in , hmmmm
    @malcolmg I'm going to break the PB rule of a lifetime and admit the above story is largely a lie

    In truth, I didn't get so annoyed at the lack of gas chambers in Dachau that I loudly demanded a refund of my entrance fee
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,313
    edited January 17

    Royal Bank of Canada report on the UK:

    "The UK is a country with the reserves in the North Sea to be self-sufficient in gas for many years to come. Yet oil companies are being stymied in developing new fields due to a nihilistic climate agenda. Nihilistic, in that such obstruction means that the UK is forced to import LNG from far afield – only adding to Scope 3 emissions in the process."

    Why on earth is the country embarked on suicidal self inflicted impoverishment?

    It makes some people feel good. Destroying our own oil/gas industry only to import it from unpleasant regimes in the Middle East is ridiculous.
  • The coffee, bread and pastries in Hamburg are excellent.

    Quite a few of the bakeries are better than their equivalents in France.
    Excellent concert hall in Hamburg.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,113

    I’ll have to dig - but the warning went out on the corridor, by the FAA.

    That’s how FTSs work - they all have to follow agreed, defined rules. Its controlled by a separate computer on the vehicle. There isn’t a bloke with a button, on the ground.
    AIUI it works *both* ways: a destruct can be called from the ground *or* by the vehicle itself. Usually the Range Safety Officer is responsible for making the call on the ground. From memory, the ground call bypasses much of the logic on the vehicle and directly triggers the FTS via a different route and processors.

    For manned flights in the US, the self-destruct sent by the RSO can be delayed to allow the crew time to escape (if possible...)
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,183
    Leon said:

    The sausages are genuinely excellent

    And the beer is consistently good

    So you can have a nice gastronomic time in Germany if you consume only sausages and beer - which doesn't sound hideous, in truth: at least for a weekend
    Have an annual trip to Stuttgart for a trade fair; January. Always a treat to load up on pork/beef-based protein and the cleanest beer you can imagine.

    A few years back it was moved to the summer. It didn't work at all. Had to eat in Italian and French restaurants the whole time!
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,272
    edited January 17
    TimS said:

    I think that captures it. I always enjoy trips to Germany but they are never exciting. Few things in Germany are the best of their kind in the world.

    Alsace is a bit better and prettier than the Schwarzwald, Switzerland and Austria do better Alps, Poland and Denmark do the Hanseatic look more comprehensively, Berlin is interesting but there are several more exciting European cities.

    One thing it does have that’s right up there is the Mosel river and vineyards. Scenically few places like that other than arguably the Duoro and the Northern Rhone. And further along in Luxembourg.
    It has pieces of film equipment that no other country has. A little known fact unless you work in that business. All countries to a greater or lesser extent use German equipment but they always keep a few bits back that only they know about. It is always a great pleasure working with their always new kit and often unique bunch of tricks
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902
    Sean_F said:

    It's interesting to compare the German Production Der Wannsee Konferenz with the BBC/HBO remake, Conspiracy, with Kenneth Branagh.

    The latter is certainly better television, more gripping, but the former is, I suspect, closer to the reality. Seedy little men, sharing seedy little jokes, as they plan genocide. Evil is more often banal than it is charismatic.
    Two things stand out on that score: Heydrich reportedly expected resistance to his proposals, and instead found only approval - and the language of bureaucracy in the records likely doesn't reflect the reality of the discussion.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference
    ...At the conclusion of the meeting, Heydrich gave Eichmann firm instructions about what was to appear in the minutes. They were not to be verbatim: Eichmann ensured that nothing too explicit appeared in them. He said at his trial: "How shall I put it – certain over-plain talk and jargon expressions had to be rendered into office language by me."..
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 623
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit is rewriting some history here, as Republicans voted against attempts to address that drug pricing he complains of.
    He also doesn't seem to understand how the healthcare market works in the US.

    Medicare accounts for around a fifth of healthcare spending in the US, and Part D - the drugs bit - about a quarter of that fifth.
    The Biden legislation already addresses 20% of that drugs spend.

    That's still a large chunk of change, but it's not going to do more than tickle the funding for Trump's proposed tax cut.
    Perhaps we in the UK/EU might not want Medicare drugs to be price capped. Their high prices cover the development costs for poorer economies like ours.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,297
    edited January 17

    Harsher punishments won't work.

    What people actually want is for thieves and vandals not to commit crimes in the first place.

    In the absence of a culture where people don't do that just because it's morally the wrong thing (which is what binds most people), then the most effective answer is not a bloody penal code but the likelihood of them being caught, prosecuted and convicted. For all but lifestyle criminals or those who are desperate, that's enough.
    The crucial understanding is that most theft (for instance) is the result of the activities of a fairly small number of hardened criminals. Lock them all up, and the theft rate will fall dramatically.

    If your third burglary conviction lands you with 20 years in the nick, that's 20 years where you won't be committing burglaries.

    Forget harsher punishments to be nasty to criminals as a deterant - unfortunately there's little evidence that works. The fix is prison to get them out of society, where they can't commit crime.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    This is a bizarre story.

    We are bringing prison officers in from places like Nigeria. They get cleared. They turn up and no accomodation sorted, some bringing family.

    Reportedly some end up sleeping in cars or even a modern day Hooverville in the woods.

    Why on earth if they are bringing these people here couldn’t they make sure they help them sort accomodation first.

    https://x.com/tonydowson5/status/1880167709071298815?s=61
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084
    More help to raise house prices incoming:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdryy33v13ko#comments
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    edited January 17

    Harsher punishments won't work.

    What people actually want is for thieves and vandals not to commit crimes in the first place.

    In the absence of a culture where people don't do that just because it's morally the wrong thing (which is what binds most people), then the most effective answer is not a bloody penal code but the likelihood of them being caught, prosecuted and convicted. For all but lifestyle criminals or those who are desperate, that's enough.
    If a burglar is in prison you know they're not committing further burglaries.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084
    Taz said:

    This is a bizarre story.

    We are bringing prison officers in from places like Nigeria. They get cleared. They turn up and no accomodation sorted, some bringing family.

    Reportedly some end up sleeping in cars or even a modern day Hooverville in the woods.

    Why on earth if they are bringing these people here couldn’t they make sure they help them sort accomodation first.

    https://x.com/tonydowson5/status/1880167709071298815?s=61

    Christ on a bike:

    He said that at another jail, foreign-recruited prison officers had set up a camp in a wooded area opposite the prison where they were working after discovering that there was no accommodation provided with the job.
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 2,092
    edited January 17

    Sopot on the Polish Baltic coast is lovely in high summer. As is the barrier island of the Hel Peninsular. Which has the actual highway to Hel…

    And at the posh end:

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902
    Roger said:

    It has pieces of film equipment that no other country has. A little known fact unless you work in that business. All countries to a greater or lesser extent use German equipment but they always keep a few bits back that only they know about. It is always a great pleasure working with their always new kit and often unique bunch of tricks
    German optics are still essential for leading edge chip manufacturing.

    Can you give us an example of this unique film kit ?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    Fascinating, in my Rangoon Burma hotel room, to watch CNN as they try to cover the Trump inauguration with a semblance of neutrality. You sense their underlying agony, but they are giving it a go

    Also, I recommend a trip to Rangoon Burma RIGHT NOW

    Don't expect to see any of the country due to the civil war, but if you like excellent 5 star hotels with brilliant food, nice gym, ace pool, for about £40 a night, Rangoon Burma rocks
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    edited January 17
    sarissa said:


    And at the posh end:

    Dead end road, too :lol:
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902
    Battlebus said:

    Perhaps we in the UK/EU might not want Medicare drugs to be price capped. Their high prices cover the development costs for poorer economies like ours.
    Perhaps, yes.
    But the market is changing, as it's both much larger - China is now a consumer, for example - and there are many more players (China again, India, S Korea etc) who weren't particularly, or at all significant. a couple of decades ago.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 891
    SandraMc said:

    Theatrical Dames still with us: Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Harriet Walter. I hope I haven't jinxed them by mentioning them.
    After Maggie Smith passed away the BBC showed a heartwarming doc, Nothing like a dame, a fly on the wall at Atkins, Dench, Plowright and Smith's annual meetup.
  • maxhmaxh Posts: 1,571
    edited January 17
    sarissa said:


    And at the posh end:

    Hel has a fantastic skydiving dropzone. The runway has water on both sides, and your landing is on the beach right on the end of the peninsula. Get the landing pattern right and you can land barefoot on beautiful soft pale sand. Get it wrong on any of three of the four compass points and you have to dump your kit in the sea and start swimming to land before you drown in Hel.

    https://skydivehel.pl/
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955

    Royal Bank of Canada report on the UK:

    "The UK is a country with the reserves in the North Sea to be self-sufficient in gas for many years to come. Yet oil companies are being stymied in developing new fields due to a nihilistic climate agenda. Nihilistic, in that such obstruction means that the UK is forced to import LNG from far afield – only adding to Scope 3 emissions in the process."

    Why on earth is the country embarked on suicidal self inflicted impoverishment?

    Two words: Ed. Miliband.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    Leon said:

    Fascinating, in my Rangoon Burma hotel room, to watch CNN as they try to cover the Trump inauguration with a semblance of neutrality. You sense their underlying agony, but they are giving it a go

    Also, I recommend a trip to Rangoon Burma RIGHT NOW

    Don't expect to see any of the country due to the civil war, but if you like excellent 5 star hotels with brilliant food, nice gym, ace pool, for about £40 a night, Rangoon Burma rocks

    Just had a look and the top hotel is £100 a night, everything else cheaper.

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g294191-Yangon_Rangoon_Yangon_Region-Hotels.html
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,371
    TimS said:

    One of my fantasy occupations is opening a small bistro somewhere in deep France, serving up cunningly disguised British classics with French names.

    Shepherds pie (hachis parmentier d'agneau), Lancashire hotpot (marmite d'agneau au gratin), Cornish pasty (pithivier Breton), Welsh Rarebit (well they have that already and call it "Le Welsh"). etc etc. Hot puddings would be harder to disguise - except Le Crumble which is now a French staple - but creme anglaise is easy enough to sell.
    My cousin's boyfriend (now husband) is from Normandy. Went round to visit and he promised us an exciting Normandy specialty of hachis Parmentier. It was good, but he was a bit crestfallen when we explained that we were very familiar with mashed potato on top of mince.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 29,846

    I’ve blown my daily photo allowance, so if you want to see Liz Truss in a MAGA hat, you’ll have to click the link:

    https://x.com/trussliz/status/1880242828317716884

    Why is the flag behind Liz Truss at half mast?
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    Pulpstar said:

    More help to raise house prices incoming:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdryy33v13ko#comments

    They don't know how to fly the plane...
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    Dopermean said:

    After Maggie Smith passed away the BBC showed a heartwarming doc, Nothing like a dame, a fly on the wall at Atkins, Dench, Plowright and Smith's annual meetup.
    Was it this

    https://x.com/glabsandra/status/1880190323135259006?s=61

  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,272
    HYUFD said:

    If Germany had FPTP then it would be a CDU/CSU landslide majority. On that poll they are forecast to win 208 constituencies, the AfD 50 and the SPD just 35 with the Greens on 5 and Left 1.

    As Germany has PR though it is likely to mean a hung parliament and another Union and SPD grand coalition government, as has been the case since 2005 with the brief interruption of the 2009-2013 Union and FDP government and the current SPD, FDP and Green government.

    The AfD would be clear main Opposition though to the Union and SPD
    Another European country holding no truck with the Trump/Musk far right.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    Pulpstar said:

    Christ on a bike:

    He said that at another jail, foreign-recruited prison officers had set up a camp in a wooded area opposite the prison where they were working after discovering that there was no accommodation provided with the job.
    Prison officers as well. Open to corrupt offers too. What a way to treat people.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902
    What do we make of this character ?
    It appears he's suddenly very influential.

    ‘He’s one of the best’: the economist shaping Rachel Reeves’s growth plans
    John Van Reenen believes he can help Labour solve the ‘peculiar British problem’ of chronically weak productivity
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/17/economist-shaping-rachel-reeves-growth-plans-john-van-reenen

    One possible black mark is that he seems to have had some sort of hand the PFI funding of new hospitals under Blair (he helped write the NHS plan).
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,371

    Why is the flag behind Liz Truss at half mast?
    Because Jimmy Carter died.

    There's a big row because a couple of red states are ignoring the rules around flying flags at half mast because they want to celebrate Trump's inauguration with full mast flagery.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    Andy_JS said:

    Just had a look and the top hotel is £100 a night, everything else cheaper.

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g294191-Yangon_Rangoon_Yangon_Region-Hotels.html
    My hotel is third on that list

    The Park Royal

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g294191-d305963-Reviews-PARKROYAL_Yangon-Yangon_Rangoon_Yangon_Region.html

    £40 a night is the deal I'm on. Probably the best value hotels in the world, right now? If you ignore the civil war?

    I've discovered their hotel dining. They have an excellent western/Indian brasserie, a very nice Japanese restaurant, and a truly wonderful Chinese restaurant. This is clearly a business hotel, aiming for Chinese custom, so they've made sure the Chinese tucker is world class

    Absolute feasts for £15

    Possibly the best Chinese food I've had anywhere, certainly good enough to be memorable
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,534
    edited January 17
    Roger said:

    Another European country holding no truck with the Trump/Musk far right.
    Though the far right party is likely to come a clear second. Of course the US is slightly different in the fact that Trump leads a party combining their centre right and establishment Republicans and populist far right now
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,313
    New thread.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840

    AIUI it works *both* ways: a destruct can be called from the ground *or* by the vehicle itself. Usually the Range Safety Officer is responsible for making the call on the ground. From memory, the ground call bypasses much of the logic on the vehicle and directly triggers the FTS via a different route and processors.

    For manned flights in the US, the self-destruct sent by the RSO can be delayed to allow the crew time to escape (if possible...)
    That’s the old st

    AIUI it works *both* ways: a destruct can be called from the ground *or* by the vehicle itself. Usually the Range Safety Officer is responsible for making the call on the ground. From memory, the ground call bypasses much of the logic on the vehicle and directly triggers the FTS via a different route and processors.

    For manned flights in the US, the self-destruct sent by the RSO can be delayed to allow the crew time to escape (if possible...)
    That’s the old style. The newer is Automated Flight Termination Systems (AFTS).

    Even SLS is moving to an AFTS by the Artemis 3. I can’t think of another US booster that doesn’t use it - Vulcan does, New Glenn. All the new entrants are designing it in. Internationally, the Japanese and Arianespace are doing so as well.
  • NEW THREAD

  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,477
    Leon said:

    @malcolmg I'm going to break the PB rule of a lifetime and admit the above story is largely a lie

    In truth, I didn't get so annoyed at the lack of gas chambers in Dachau that I loudly demanded a refund of my entrance fee
    I hope you at least demanded a refund on your Dachau snowglobe.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,272
    IMF Upgrades UK growth forecast to 1.6%.

    OT. I had lunch in a very popular cafe here in Villefranche which was advertising for staff. What a tragedy that young Brits can't apply. It's a real fun cafe a stones throw from the sea. No snow or freezing temperatures.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,934

    Royal Bank of Canada report on the UK:

    "The UK is a country with the reserves in the North Sea to be self-sufficient in gas for many years to come. Yet oil companies are being stymied in developing new fields due to a nihilistic climate agenda. Nihilistic, in that such obstruction means that the UK is forced to import LNG from far afield – only adding to Scope 3 emissions in the process."

    Why on earth is the country embarked on suicidal self inflicted impoverishment?

    Two words: Ed Miliband.
    Two adjectives dangerous moron.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,313
    Roger said:

    IMF Upgrades UK growth forecast to 1.6%.

    OT. I had lunch in a very popular cafe here in Villefranche which was advertising for staff. What a tragedy that young Brits can't apply. It's a real fun cafe a stones throw from the sea. No snow or freezing temperatures.

    What’s that joke about economists and decimal places?
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 623
    The Canadian answer to Trump




  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    viewcode said:

    Making a serious point for the moment (and again taking from "Late Soviet Britain"), the Thatcher/Blair revolution assumed that outsourcing public sector tasks to private companies and overseeing them with regulators would result in better provision. But it just doesn't - at best it produces early gains which are later lost. This is why things are getting progressively worse. Until this fact is internalised and Government realises that if it want something done it has to do it itself, we will always be in this mess.
    I really need to get this book.

    I think the key thing here is that government is not just bad at supplying, it can be very bad at procurement too.

    The government has set up a series of monopoly providers, who have no sense of public sector ethos, and have eagerly “enshittified” their services, often while sending the profits abroad.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    DavidL said:

    Two words: Ed Miliband.
    Two adjectives dangerous moron.
    Like it or not we are in Trump world, and a whole host of British fancies now look like grossly self-harming fetishes.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,934

    Odd way to list them. Surely:

    Lab 26%
    Con 25%
    Reform 23%
    Lib Dem 12%
    Green 7%.

    Is more accurate/appropriate?
    No, this is Politicalbetting.com. We are only interested in Con and Ref. One could argue Labour should come in at number three or even four after the LDs who are quite popular on here.
This discussion has been closed.