Fewer than one in ten people think Badenoch would make the best PM – politicalbetting.com

Theuniondivvie said:

kinabalu said:

LostPassword said:

Foxy said:

SandyRentool said:

All those lads in black balaclavas waving guns in the air. The IDF still has a job to do.

If they couldn't destroy Hamas after 16 months of total blockade, total bombardment and total surveillance, how much longer do you think the siege needs to go on?

Feels like a work smarter not harder situation. It's become evident over recent months that the strategy for achieving the goal of destroying Hamas has failed. I don't think that necessarily means that destroying Hamas is impossible, but either a different approach to achieving that end is required, or a different means of achieving long-term security for Israel is required.

Either way, there's still a job for the IDF to do, even if it's a different one to what they've been doing for the past year and a bit.

I don't think 'destroying Hamas' was the primary driver of what they've done to Gaza. I think it was vengeance.

If nations and peoples can have collective personalities, for Israel it’s definitely personal with Gaza, and Palestinians generally.

TimS said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

I could imagine a porno mag called Vanden Plas.

ydoethur said:

CJohn said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Foxy said:

another_richard said:

kinabalu said:

Scott_xP said:

There is an interview with Michael Heseltine in The Times today. Among other things he talks about this

He recalls his own emergence as a public figure when the Tories went into opposition in 1974. “Who was leading the attack? Me. Every day. And on Sunday, I got up and did it all over again. That’s opposition. You never take time off. And it will rapidly emerge who’s any good at it.”

Someone who the polls suggest is clearly good at it is Nigel Farage. Virtually every conversation I have with a Conservative these days covers whether they should try to destroy Farage or do a deal with him.

“Destroy him,” Heseltine snaps. “Farage is about economic failure and immigration. It’s the worst stirring of the racial pot.

and this

He thinks some sort of mobility deal allowing under-30s to live and work in the EU, which even Starmer is wary of, is a “very good idea”.

“This is where you have to be prepared to take Farage on. Are you going to deny that to the young generations, the cultural opportunities of Europe, the social opportunities? You’ve got to be aggressive about it and paint it as an older generation denying the young what they have taken for granted all their adult lives.”

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/michael-heseltine-interview-nigel-farage-destroy-8dvj6jmnx

A good framing from Hezza there. Frozen out of home ownership. Can't go to uni without taking on a big debt. Oh and while we're at it, forget about moving freely around Europe.

The inability to 'freely' go and pick turnips in Transylvania must really cramp the lives of young Britons.

Lets deal with the reality here:

1) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe are going to be allowed to get a job in Europe.

The problem is that over 90% don't have the skillset to get a job in Europe because language skills are so mediocre in this country.

2) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe will also have the skillset to get a job in this country and very likely find it easier to do so and get higher paid.

The problem is that there are too many who don't have the skillset to get a job in this country - note a skillset includes having a worthwhile work ethic.

There you go again, talking down Britain.

Talking up Britain. Young British people don't want to work in mainland Europe not because there's anything wrong with them, but because they can do better elsewhere already.

More British people went to work in Australia than the entire mainland EU combined, despite needing visas for the former and not for the latter.

In Australia they speak Oz.
British people can speak Oz quite well; what nearly all can't speak is French, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish.

So of course they have to fuck off all the way to the southern hemisphere or the US to get jobs requiring speech.


, in Europe they don't an

They speak Oz? Surely not. They speak Strine.

TimS said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

I could imagine a porno mag called Vanden Plas.

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

It's really bad that I can't do Latin chat or Heseltine talk but I'm happy to get into it when it's Razzle and Escort.

Maxi was a woman's skirt. So too, on a much smaller scale, was Mini.

geoffw said:

Malmesbury said:

TimS said:

ohnotnow said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Foxy said:

another_richard said:

kinabalu said:

Scott_xP said:

There is an interview with Michael Heseltine in The Times today. Among other things he talks about this

He recalls his own emergence as a public figure when the Tories went into opposition in 1974. “Who was leading the attack? Me. Every day. And on Sunday, I got up and did it all over again. That’s opposition. You never take time off. And it will rapidly emerge who’s any good at it.”

Someone who the polls suggest is clearly good at it is Nigel Farage. Virtually every conversation I have with a Conservative these days covers whether they should try to destroy Farage or do a deal with him.

“Destroy him,” Heseltine snaps. “Farage is about economic failure and immigration. It’s the worst stirring of the racial pot.

and this

He thinks some sort of mobility deal allowing under-30s to live and work in the EU, which even Starmer is wary of, is a “very good idea”.

“This is where you have to be prepared to take Farage on. Are you going to deny that to the young generations, the cultural opportunities of Europe, the social opportunities? You’ve got to be aggressive about it and paint it as an older generation denying the young what they have taken for granted all their adult lives.”

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/michael-heseltine-interview-nigel-farage-destroy-8dvj6jmnx

A good framing from Hezza there. Frozen out of home ownership. Can't go to uni without taking on a big debt. Oh and while we're at it, forget about moving freely around Europe.

The inability to 'freely' go and pick turnips in Transylvania must really cramp the lives of young Britons.

Lets deal with the reality here:

1) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe are going to be allowed to get a job in Europe.

The problem is that over 90% don't have the skillset to get a job in Europe because language skills are so mediocre in this country.

2) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe will also have the skillset to get a job in this country and very likely find it easier to do so and get higher paid.

The problem is that there are too many who don't have the skillset to get a job in this country - note a skillset includes having a worthwhile work ethic.

There you go again, talking down Britain.

Talking up Britain. Young British people don't want to work in mainland Europe not because there's anything wrong with them, but because they can do better elsewhere already.

More British people went to work in Australia than the entire mainland EU combined, despite needing visas for the former and not for the latter.

We're also really good at filling in forms, and not very good at foreign languages.

It’s entirely logical that we’re not good at foreign languages, because we don’t need to be. We speak the lingua franca already.

We are good at 2 other things our European and American counterparts are rubbish at: driving on the other side of the road when on holiday (its second nature to us but terrifying to Euro and US visitors to Britain), and converting effortlessly between imperial and metric.

I mean how many nations on earth would you find saying “I had to drive 25 miles to get to the start of my 10k run. It was bloody freezing, only 10 Celsius when we started. Last year it was in the 80s. Still, it’s all helping with the diet. I’ve shed 5 kilos since I started and my waistline is 2 inches smaller.”

How many furlongs was that? Also, many kids seem to use stones for weight. And kilos for everything else.

The hundredweight cwt is of course 112 pounds just to keep foreigners on their toes.

bondegezou said:

Stuartinromford said:

bondegezou said:

ohnotnow said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Fishing said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

kinabalu said:

JosiasJessop said:

kinabalu said:

JosiasJessop said:

kinabalu said:

theProle said:

kinabalu said:

Leon said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

SandyRentool said:

Barnesian said:

SandyRentool said:

Malmesbury said:

A

Cicero said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Barnesian said:

FF43 said:

Ed Davey likely would make a decent PM, certainly better than two others on that list.

He comes from a party that hasn't produced prime ministers for a hundred years however.

Ed Davey reminds me of Rory Kinnear who did make a decent PM.

On his last outing Kinnear came close to killing a former Tory campaign manager which might be considered by Sir Ed for his next stunt.

While I am partisan, I do genuinely think that Sir Ed is wildly underestimated. I think his clear move towards Rejoin is carving out unique territory for the Lib Dems, and he also has some very impressive people on the Lib Dem benches. People know that Farage is a media creature and Brexit is now an unambiguous failure. Few of the extremely partisan commentators in the media give him the time of day, but it is Sir Ed, not Farage, that has the Parliamentary advantage. Watch this space for astute and intelligent moves.

I’m surprised at the Lib Dem’s who want to dump their leader. In favour of whom exactly? By what metric do they think they are not doing well enough and who/how could this be improved?

Here's a metric:

Since the GE Labour have dropped from 35% to around 25%. But the LibDems have flatlined.

Not good enough.

The Lib Dem strategy has been totally and successfully focused on target seats. The national share was irrelevant. 100 seats at 50% and the rest at 5% gives a national share of about 13%, which is a meaningless measure.

However this strategy limits the Lib Dems to being a junior party in a coalition (hiss) or C&S.

I think there will be a change to a more national campaign (on top of the local campaigns) to broaden the ambition. Ed Davey's recent call for joining the customs union might a sign of that.

National share will then become an important metric.

While the targeting at the GE was, of course, very successful, you must be concerned that the LDs have failed to progress as Labour support has declined?

Labour supporters leaving the party are heading left to the Greens and the Gaza parties. Or going to Reform.

Not sure that the Lib Dens are fishing in either pool.

I do wish voters would stick to what they usually do rather than constantly moving around. You can't make plans when they're like this.

Nach dem Aufstand des 17. Juni
Ließ der Sekretär des Schriftstellerverbands
In der Stalinallee Flugblätter verteilen
Auf denen zu lesen war, daß das Volk
Das Vertrauen der Regierung verscherzt habe

I'd have a chance in French?

Google translate, my friend.

It’s a poem by Bertolt Brecht - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Lösung

Ah that "dissolve the people" thing. Yes.

Thing is, there is a serious point here. We (Labour) need 10 to 15 years to transform the country. But we only get 6 months before people start getting antsy, poring over polls, fretting about "lack of narratives" bla bla.

It's a recipe for perpetual frustration and disappointment. For everybody.

10 or 15 years to do….. what? What is the big plan? Where’s the vision, the lodestar, the exciting new route for the UK? What do you want to do with power? How are you going to change the UK for the better, and when, and how much will it cost?

Answer came there none, because Labour has No Fucking Clue. THIS is why your government is already historically unpopular, it’s not because voters are all short-attention-span idiots asking too much, it’s because they can rightly see that Labour’s big idea consists of overpaying public sector workers and punting a plan for social care to 2028 because they have no fucking idea what to do

We can all read the news. We all read that Sir Sheer Wanker was “unpleasantly surprised” to discover that, when he went into Number 10, “there was no plan”. Yeah, we noticed . You’d think the PM would be across these details, but not

One term government

But nobody has a better clue. So let's settle down and see how they get on.

So nobody has a better clue than *paying* £9bn of taxpayers money to give away a island to someone else it doesn't belong to?

Nobody has a better clue than vindictivly pulling Latin teaching from schools *mid school year*, thus messing up the education of a whole bunch of kids who happen to be studying it right now.

Nobody has a better clue for raising tax than taxing *employment* more.

Nobody has a better clue about energy than letting that fool Miliband blow £20bn on pointless carbon capture.

I could go on, but you get the picture. On most of these, doing nothing whatsoever would have been better.

But you don't expect people with tory brain chemistry to feel positive about what Labour governments do. That's only natural.

Are you really 100% happy with all those listed decisions? Every single one?

No. It's a mix of happy and unsure.

I'd love to know your reasoning to be happy or unsure about the CCS money or the cancelling latin funding for schools halfway through the year (yes, I know it's a little more complex than that, but even so).

Well that's easy. On the Latin, I enjoyed it, my best subject in fact, but is it a good fit these days? Is it something to continue with? Not sure. My heart says yes, my head says maybe not. And on carbon capture, I'm just not knowledgeable on the subject. I do not know if that's a good use of money.

If we redesigned the secondary school curriculum from scratch, we'd probably ditch most subjects, not just Latin. Aside from the 3Rs which are (ideally) covered in primary school, there is not a lot left that is useful to most people in the outside world.

Subjects like history or philosophy may not be directly vocationally useful to most people, but they teach you skills like judging evidence and thinking logically that are, so there is definitely a strong case for keeping them.

The other thing I'd like to see more of in schools is directly useful life skills like the basics of plumbing, carpentry or law which everybody needs at some time in their lives.

You can save a fortune over a lifetime if you can plug a leak and draft your will without calling a professional.

Well, for a start, philosophy is not taught in most schools even if it should be, but agreed on the value of basic diy skills.

I wish 'proper' home cooking/DIY skills were taught. The main home-economics lessons I remember are "how to make a knitted pom-pom" and "making a pizza" (which was a bread roll, some tomato puree and grated cheddar under the grill). Metalwork was a sort of weird garden implement that made no sense at all. Basically cutting a triangle out of a rectangle but not calling it a 'shiv'.

They were cancelled by Thatcher when she was Education Secretary, weren't they?

More recently than that- in fact, learning to cook is still in the National Curriculum;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study#key-stage-3

But one of the academy freedoms (so brought in under Blair and turbocharged by the coalition) is to be able to ignore the National Curriculum. Not wasting time or money on cooking lessons frees up time to get better GCSE results.

There was a shift under Thatcher from cooking lessons to food technology, before all that.

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

Daveyboy1961 said:

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

Banning X over here would surpass it.

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

It's really bad that I can't do Latin chat or Heseltine talk but I'm happy to get into it when it's Razzle and Escort.

Maxi was a woman's skirt. So too, on a much smaller scale, was Mini.

Never a Micra skirt, though.

I must say that this discussion really makes me wonder about the psychology of 1960s and 1970s car naming. Rather like visiting one's childhood comedies now and spotting all the hidden wordings and undertones one's parents quietly enjoyed. But it was a time when no motor show was complete without a number of underdressed ladies reposing on the bonnets of the motor cars. Not sure when that died out, but it seems very odd now.

2018 (well, 2017) for the grid girls in F1:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-to-stop-using-grid-girls.5HPVgIzLHOcIiGaAS8eOWE

solarflare said:

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

It's really bad that I can't do Latin chat or Heseltine talk but I'm happy to get into it when it's Razzle and Escort.

Maxi was a woman's skirt. So too, on a much smaller scale, was Mini.

Never a Micra skirt, though.

Daveyboy1961 said:

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

Banning X over here would surpass it.

solarflare said:

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

It's really bad that I can't do Latin chat or Heseltine talk but I'm happy to get into it when it's Razzle and Escort.

Maxi was a woman's skirt. So too, on a much smaller scale, was Mini.

Never a Micra skirt, though.

Oh, they had microskirts in the 1960s, believe me. At least in theory. But it makes me wonder about car names and car purchasers even more.

Indeed, bad car-related pun, as in the Nissan Micra.

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

ohnotnow said:

bondegezou said:

Malmesbury said:

Some ideas that would work with Labour politics

1) Rework the company tax system to reward investment in plant and training, and make up the difference from taxing financialisation of companies. Buy a zillion quids worth of CNC machines - thumbs up. Borrow a zillion quid to strip the company of value - thumbs down.

2) Training. The universities take on training and the academic side of apprenticeships. Companies buy into this service, providing the hands on side of apprenticeships, and paying money towards the classroom side. This creates nationally recognised qualifications which represent transferable skills.

3) Create a series of experiments in helping the part time workers become full time workers. How to help them out of the tax/benefit trap.

There is a modern apprenticeship system that sort of does (2). It was introduced by the Tories. It is, however, a ridiculously complex system that stops it from being as useful as it should be.

It's also not really functioning as (I'd guess) intended. It's open to anyone over 16. We've had people in their 60s apply for it. Fine, in a way - you want to learn a new skill. But you're doing some youngster out of a rung on the ladder.

I wish the UK as a whole wasn't as 'snobby' about vocational training and qualifications. I've had amazing, eager people with college certificates apply for jobs and seen them not get offered a place as they didn't have a degree. You know. A proper qualification. It's really quite depressing.

Which is why I want to merge it with the Universities.

"So, you have a First in CNC operation and Elizabethan Poetry from Kings, Cambridge?"

OTOH the latter wouldn't date so quickly, at least in terms of content rather than developed skills.

Lathing metal is actually older than the Elizabethan period.

Not long ago, I was corresponding with a chap who is doing experimental archeology on cannon boring from that time. Apparently there was a bit a surprise when they checked the bore accuracy and quality from bronze guns salvaged from the time *that hadn't been heavily corroded* along with some shot. Apparently the old stories of terrible windage weren't true - shot accurate to a millimetre etc.

Mm, my reaction was to wonder how he knew, given the range of calibres in the old days. But perhaps he was working from projectiles found with the guns. Sounds interesting, anyway. I look forward to reading about it sometime.

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Taz said:

TimS said:

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

I could imagine a porno mag called Vanden Plas.

It would be upper class, high end. Scantily clad nymphs in their early twenties posing against a backdrop of the Italian riviera or a sun drenched tropical paradise.

As opposed to a quick set of snaps reeled off in a field behind an industrial estate in the West Midlands.

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Foxy said:

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

It's back already in the US.

Even before Trump is sworn in he has decreed a 90 day extension.

It's an interesting intervention overruling both Congress and SCOTUS, quite a precedent for a president.

solarflare said:

Foxy said:

Andy_JS said:

If TikTok is banned it'll be one of the best things that's happened for about 20 years imo.

It's back already in the US.

Even before Trump is sworn in he has decreed a 90 day extension.

It's an interesting intervention overruling both Congress and SCOTUS, quite a precedent for a president.

Woiud be sort of funny if he changed his mind again.

kinabalu said:

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Steve Bannon is one of those odd men who can't seem to speak in anything but lurid hyperbole referencing war or violence.

rottenborough said:

kinabalu said:

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Steve Bannon is one of those odd men who can't seem to speak in anything but lurid hyperbole referencing war or violence.

I'm really curious where he fits now in all this. He seems to be on the outside now as Trump 2.0 plays with his new playdates from the Valley.

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

rottenborough said:

kinabalu said:

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Steve Bannon is one of those odd men who can't seem to speak in anything but lurid hyperbole referencing war or violence.

I'm really curious where he fits now in all this. He seems to be on the outside now as Trump 2.0 plays with his new playdates from the Valley.

Stuartinromford said:

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

How long until the first high-profile "I've been conned" howl of rage of the new administration?

Taz said:

TimS said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

Leon said:

Daveyboy1961 said:

FFS, it's dark at 5 o clock!!

Can I just say that I’m glad that I have effortlessly established another PB meme

*bows with a swoop of his hat, like a cavalier*

Not sure why you're bringing vauxhalls into it.

Growing up I associated major car model names with boring normality. Now I realise just how exotic most of them were.

Cavalier, Astra, Sierra, Granada, Cortina, Orion, Fiesta, Nova.

Then there was “Escort”. What an odd name for a car.

Indeed and it was also the name of a ‘jazz mag’ as was Fiesta.

There was never a Ford Razzle IIRC.

kinabalu said:

Stuartinromford said:

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

How long until the first high-profile "I've been conned" howl of rage of the new administration?

I wonder to what extent Trump will care about his poll ratings from now on given he can't stand again?

kinabalu said:

Stuartinromford said:

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

How long until the first high-profile "I've been conned" howl of rage of the new administration?

I wonder to what extent Trump will care about his poll ratings from now on given he can't stand again?

williamglenn said:

https://x.com/jenniferjjacobs/status/1881097073467998652

Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump chose to co-lead DOGE with @ElonMusk, is expected to soon step away from the task force. There has been friction between rank and file DOGE staff and @VivekGRamaswamy, and Ramaswamy has been subtly encouraged to exit. He intends to announce a campaign for Ohio governor as soon as the end of January, sources told @weijia @finnygo and me.

CatMan said:

kinabalu said:

Stuartinromford said:

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

How long until the first high-profile "I've been conned" howl of rage of the new administration?

I wonder to what extent Trump will care about his poll ratings from now on given he can't stand again?

You naive fool...

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

Malmesbury said:

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

Creating your own meme coin is multi-level scamming. You are scamming people trying to be scammers.

https://www.wired.com/story/memecoin-kid-backlash/

kinabalu said:

CatMan said:

kinabalu said:

Stuartinromford said:

Malmesbury said:

From a brief dip into the howling madness of social media, the idea that Trump is preventing a ban on Tik Tok. And that the ban is supported by the outgoing Democratic administration, is causing confusion.

Some heads exploding out there...

How long until the first high-profile "I've been conned" howl of rage of the new administration?

I wonder to what extent Trump will care about his poll ratings from now on given he can't stand again?

You naive fool...

You think he'll find a way to stay for life?

Stuartinromford said:

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

Volatile and lacking intrinsic value, President Trump is inaugurated tomorrow.

On the other hand, keeping the Donald busy with four years of grift and graft is one of the better scenarios for his second term.

Malmesbury said:

TimS said:

ohnotnow said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Foxy said:

another_richard said:

kinabalu said:

Scott_xP said:

There is an interview with Michael Heseltine in The Times today. Among other things he talks about this

He recalls his own emergence as a public figure when the Tories went into opposition in 1974. “Who was leading the attack? Me. Every day. And on Sunday, I got up and did it all over again. That’s opposition. You never take time off. And it will rapidly emerge who’s any good at it.”

Someone who the polls suggest is clearly good at it is Nigel Farage. Virtually every conversation I have with a Conservative these days covers whether they should try to destroy Farage or do a deal with him.

“Destroy him,” Heseltine snaps. “Farage is about economic failure and immigration. It’s the worst stirring of the racial pot.

and this

He thinks some sort of mobility deal allowing under-30s to live and work in the EU, which even Starmer is wary of, is a “very good idea”.

“This is where you have to be prepared to take Farage on. Are you going to deny that to the young generations, the cultural opportunities of Europe, the social opportunities? You’ve got to be aggressive about it and paint it as an older generation denying the young what they have taken for granted all their adult lives.”

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/michael-heseltine-interview-nigel-farage-destroy-8dvj6jmnx

A good framing from Hezza there. Frozen out of home ownership. Can't go to uni without taking on a big debt. Oh and while we're at it, forget about moving freely around Europe.

The inability to 'freely' go and pick turnips in Transylvania must really cramp the lives of young Britons.

Lets deal with the reality here:

1) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe are going to be allowed to get a job in Europe.

The problem is that over 90% don't have the skillset to get a job in Europe because language skills are so mediocre in this country.

2) Any Britons who have the skillset to get a job in Europe will also have the skillset to get a job in this country and very likely find it easier to do so and get higher paid.

The problem is that there are too many who don't have the skillset to get a job in this country - note a skillset includes having a worthwhile work ethic.

There you go again, talking down Britain.

Talking up Britain. Young British people don't want to work in mainland Europe not because there's anything wrong with them, but because they can do better elsewhere already.

More British people went to work in Australia than the entire mainland EU combined, despite needing visas for the former and not for the latter.

We're also really good at filling in forms, and not very good at foreign languages.

It’s entirely logical that we’re not good at foreign languages, because we don’t need to be. We speak the lingua franca already.

We are good at 2 other things our European and American counterparts are rubbish at: driving on the other side of the road when on holiday (its second nature to us but terrifying to Euro and US visitors to Britain), and converting effortlessly between imperial and metric.

I mean how many nations on earth would you find saying “I had to drive 25 miles to get to the start of my 10k run. It was bloody freezing, only 10 Celsius when we started. Last year it was in the 80s. Still, it’s all helping with the diet. I’ve shed 5 kilos since I started and my waistline is 2 inches smaller.”

How many furlongs was that? Also, many kids seem to use stones for weight. And kilos for everything else.

rottenborough said:

Malmesbury said:

FeersumEnjineeya said:

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

My lad keeps calling me about it. He made a load of cash from crypto trading - enough to pay his uni fees and maintenance - a couple of years ago. He got back into it this Christmas, and had made himself a few grand, but I think a lot of it is gone again after Trump's latest exploits. He reckons that what Trump has done is illegal, but, well, presidential immunity 🤷‍♂️

Meme coins are illegal in the U.K.

In the US, the law hasn’t been defined properly. They are pump-and-dump with extra steps - a scummy business for scum.

"Meme coins are illegal in the U.K."

Does this mean I can't set one up?

I was thinking of "$NeverTrump"

Could really grift them libs.

kinabalu said:

rottenborough said:

Bannon: the tech oligarchs are coming to the inauguration to "surrender" to Trump.

"I view this as September 1945." (Japanese surrender totally)

Steve Bannon is one of those odd men who can't seem to speak in anything but lurid hyperbole referencing war or violence.

ExiledInScotland said:

Andy_JS said:

It would have been easy for the Democrats to have stopped Trump becoming president. All they had to do was make a few noises about securing the borders, stopping extreme forms of woke-ism, etc. They didn't do it, and here we are.

... and our politics lag the US by about 4 years.

ohnotnow said:

rottenborough said:

The last message?


President Biden
@POTUS
Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.”

After all these years serving you, the American people, I have not seen the righteous forsaken.

https://x.com/POTUS/status/1881103089647640813

If I'm reading that correctly, and he hasn't seen the righteous forsaken during his career in politics, then he really needs a better optician.

Andy_JS said:

It would have been easy for the Democrats to have stopped Trump becoming president. All they had to do was make a few noises about securing the borders, stopping extreme forms of woke-ism, etc. They didn't do it, and here we are.

Foxy said:

Nigelb said:

Anyone followed the Trump coin grift ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, which quickly soared in market capitalisation to several billion dollars.
His release of the meme coin, $Trump, comes as he prepares to take office on Monday as 47th president of the US.
The venture was co-ordinated by CIC Digital LLC - an affiliate of the Trump Organization - which has previously sold Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Meme coins are used to build popularity for a viral internet trend or movement, but they lack intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments...

Oh, and Melania too.

The Official Melania Meme is live!

You can buy $MELANIA now.

https://melaniameme.com

Untraceable large sums of money being transferred to the president?

What could possibly be wrong with that? After all the president is immune to prosecution.

rottenborough said:

The last message?


President Biden
@POTUS
Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.”

After all these years serving you, the American people, I have not seen the righteous forsaken.

https://x.com/POTUS/status/1881103089647640813

rottenborough said:

Trump coin has lost 40% value today.

LOL,

FF43 said:

theProle said:

kinabalu said:

Leon said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

SandyRentool said:

Barnesian said:

SandyRentool said:

Malmesbury said:

A

Cicero said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Barnesian said:

FF43 said:

Ed Davey likely would make a decent PM, certainly better than two others on that list.

He comes from a party that hasn't produced prime ministers for a hundred years however.

Ed Davey reminds me of Rory Kinnear who did make a decent PM.

On his last outing Kinnear came close to killing a former Tory campaign manager which might be considered by Sir Ed for his next stunt.

While I am partisan, I do genuinely think that Sir Ed is wildly underestimated. I think his clear move towards Rejoin is carving out unique territory for the Lib Dems, and he also has some very impressive people on the Lib Dem benches. People know that Farage is a media creature and Brexit is now an unambiguous failure. Few of the extremely partisan commentators in the media give him the time of day, but it is Sir Ed, not Farage, that has the Parliamentary advantage. Watch this space for astute and intelligent moves.

I’m surprised at the Lib Dem’s who want to dump their leader. In favour of whom exactly? By what metric do they think they are not doing well enough and who/how could this be improved?

Here's a metric:

Since the GE Labour have dropped from 35% to around 25%. But the LibDems have flatlined.

Not good enough.

The Lib Dem strategy has been totally and successfully focused on target seats. The national share was irrelevant. 100 seats at 50% and the rest at 5% gives a national share of about 13%, which is a meaningless measure.

However this strategy limits the Lib Dems to being a junior party in a coalition (hiss) or C&S.

I think there will be a change to a more national campaign (on top of the local campaigns) to broaden the ambition. Ed Davey's recent call for joining the customs union might a sign of that.

National share will then become an important metric.

While the targeting at the GE was, of course, very successful, you must be concerned that the LDs have failed to progress as Labour support has declined?

Labour supporters leaving the party are heading left to the Greens and the Gaza parties. Or going to Reform.

Not sure that the Lib Dens are fishing in either pool.

I do wish voters would stick to what they usually do rather than constantly moving around. You can't make plans when they're like this.

Nach dem Aufstand des 17. Juni
Ließ der Sekretär des Schriftstellerverbands
In der Stalinallee Flugblätter verteilen
Auf denen zu lesen war, daß das Volk
Das Vertrauen der Regierung verscherzt habe

I'd have a chance in French?

Google translate, my friend.

It’s a poem by Bertolt Brecht - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Lösung

Ah that "dissolve the people" thing. Yes.

Thing is, there is a serious point here. We (Labour) need 10 to 15 years to transform the country. But we only get 6 months before people start getting antsy, poring over polls, fretting about "lack of narratives" bla bla.

It's a recipe for perpetual frustration and disappointment. For everybody.

10 or 15 years to do….. what? What is the big plan? Where’s the vision, the lodestar, the exciting new route for the UK? What do you want to do with power? How are you going to change the UK for the better, and when, and how much will it cost?

Answer came there none, because Labour has No Fucking Clue. THIS is why your government is already historically unpopular, it’s not because voters are all short-attention-span idiots asking too much, it’s because they can rightly see that Labour’s big idea consists of overpaying public sector workers and punting a plan for social care to 2028 because they have no fucking idea what to do

We can all read the news. We all read that Sir Sheer Wanker was “unpleasantly surprised” to discover that, when he went into Number 10, “there was no plan”. Yeah, we noticed . You’d think the PM would be across these details, but not

One term government

But nobody has a better clue. So let's settle down and see how they get on.

So nobody has a better clue than *paying* £9bn of taxpayers money to give away a island to someone else it doesn't belong to?

Nobody has a better clue than vindictivly pulling Latin teaching from schools *mid school year*, thus messing up the education of a whole bunch of kids who happen to be studying it right now.

Nobody has a better clue for raising tax than taxing *employment* more.

Nobody has a better clue about energy than letting that fool Miliband blow £20bn on pointless carbon capture.

I could go on, but you get the picture. On most of these, doing nothing whatsoever would have been better.

The Carbon Capture scheme was a policy from the last government. Strictly the criticism of Miliband is he hasn't cancelled it.

TBH the announcement from both governments beyond the initial £4 billion investment in Teesside is so vague it's hard to know what the project is and whether it's a good idea. It seems to be promoted by fossil fuel producers