I've met Streeting through a mutual friend and I think he is absolutely brilliant, one of the few genuine stars in British politics right now. I really hope he can hold his seat because we need people like him.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
Who is everyone's pick for next Labour leader? I think Yvette Cooper.
What has she ever done except for the shambles that was hips.....why would you want such an asinine person in charge when the only thing she championed was a complete idiocy?
At least when buying a house it meant we had something to rely on. Hips dont lie.
She should replicate it with KIPS. Each knife would come with an information pack about the specific risks associated with it.
Can't wait for her to get round to NIPS...
(The Northern Ireland Police Service would have been so cool if that had been how they were branded....)
The Metropolitan Police has declined to investigate Sir Keir Starmer’s in person meeting with his voice coach during Covid lockdown.
On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said police should look into whether a visit by Leonie Mellinger to Labour’s London headquarters on Christmas Eve in 2020 had broken any Covid rules.
But a Met Police spokesman said the force was barred from any investigations of possible Covid breaches that had happened more than three years ago.
“We can confirm we have received a report,” the spokesman said. “The specific legislation that would be used by police forces dealing with alleged offences during Covid has a three-year deadline for initiating proceedings. As this alleged incident falls outside this timeframe, no action will be taken.”
You merely have to type his voice coaches name into Google, and you can see her tits. Just saying.
Hyufd has tits?
They weren't obvious when I knew him at uni...
And where did you study? I'm mainly asking so that I can reinforce my prejudices. Bad answers would include Oxford, and I'm off the bridge if you say Sussex.
The greatest university in the world.
Of course.
Aberystwyth.
Phew. Would you mind at all if I suggested that you seem a bit smarter than (without any actual knowledge) I take to be the average Aberystwythian? What happened?
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
9 out of 10 getting through would have still been a problem...
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Quite, people will kill each other if they want to. As Malmesbury points out in prison, where knives are tightly regulated, prisoners make their own. Crims are very resourceful when it comes to exacting whatever retribution they want.
There is nothing there at all to tackle why it happens and if people think a few youth clubs and ping pong tables are the solution they’re dreaming.
I cannot work out if politicians and celebrities suggesting this kind of thing realise it trivialises human nature and criminality, but they are reaching for something easy to sell to electors, or if they believe it to be true.
When we ban pointy knives, and it doesn’t work, will we come for the screwdrivers? How will we stop people breaking knives to get a point? What about good old fashioned toothbrush shivs? Will we ban bottles?
Don’t tell them about cars - if they find out they are responsible for around 7 times more deaths in the UK we’re all walking and Dura Ace will have nothing to live for.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
Exactly this. Even with the U.S. staying out of the war in 1942, Hitler would have had to give up on us, especially as he got tied up in the East.
It’s a toss up whether we could have won in North Africa alone and kept the oil flowing, but I assume no U.S. declaration of war means no big Japanese push so we could have reinforced.
In the end though, Germany/Japan would have done something to bring the yanks in. It was inevitable. And once the Allies were all in, we were always going to win (knowing what we know now - wasn’t as obvious then).
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
When we ban pointy knives, and it doesn’t work, will we come for the screwdrivers? How will we stop people breaking knives to get a point? What about good old fashioned toothbrush shivs? Will we ban bottles?
Don’t tell them about cars - if they find out they are responsible for around 7 times more deaths in the UK we’re all walking and Dura Ace will have nothing to live for.
And food. Think about all those choking incidents that could be avoided through compulsory baby food.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Quite, people will kill each other if they want to. As Malmesbury points out in prison, where knives are tightly regulated, prisoners make their own. Crims are very resourceful when it comes to exacting whatever retribution they want.
There is nothing there at all to tackle why it happens and if people think a few youth clubs and ping pong tables are the solution they’re dreaming.
I cannot work out if politicians and celebrities suggesting this kind of thing realise it trivialises human nature and criminality, but they are reaching for something easy to sell to electors, or if they believe it to be true.
I think it starts out as the former and migrates to the latter over time as they become invested in it.
It was clear how ambitious he was, right from the first week there I was introduced to a "future prime minister." It was no surprise he climbed up the political ladder straight into student union activity very quickly.
We hardly spent any time together though. After I didn't get elected to the college student union (JCR) I didn't really spend any time on anything political/activism and only became involved much later. I don't think there are any photos of us together (apart from the year group photo at start and end of studies) although this was before the age of selfies and instagrammable breakfasts.
He was always a bit too slimy and ambitious for my liking, but he had a lot about him even then, and no surprises he's become a significant national figure.
His best hope is Starmer wins most seats next time but loses his majority, the Tories or Reform build up a significant poll lead and Labour turn to Streeting in a panic to try and stay in office and win over centrist swing voters they have lost to the Conservatives and LDs since the general election.
Labour voters who have gone Reform or Green probably aren't coming back anytime soon
Maybe, maybe not. I think he's too involved with the Starmer project to benefit from it failing. If he can become the saviour of the NHS, turning around years of Tory decay, then the Labour party will see him as PM material - and Starmer will be a long way to getting re-elected.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
No, it's not quite gun control in America, is it.
Still, I wouldn't set myself quite so implacably against it. It's an Idris Elba suggestion and he's ... well he's Idris Elba.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
9 out of 10 getting through would have still been a problem...
We definitely need words for reducing to 10%, 20% and so on of the original. Sticking with Latin, that would be nonagintemated, octogintemated etc.?
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
You should be called JokeGuy, lucky. If her Lazy Excellence hadn’t skipped security briefings, should might have landed a punch.
But Farage was very interesting. Not banging on about traitors giving the empire away, or boat crossings on porous borders, or lack of homes due to 1M each year in new migrants, he linked pensioners empty pockets as a reason to abandon Labour for Reform, in the way the Conservative front bench can’t do just yet as they were in control so long till recently so are linked to the financial pain.
The Pensioner generation still turn out for Tory’s, low lying fruit for Farage IMO if he represents putting pounds back in their pockets.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
9 out of 10 getting through would have still been a problem...
We definitely need words for reducing to 10%, 20% and so on of the original. Sticking with Latin, that would be nonagintemated, octogintemated etc.?
The English translation is royally screwed, screwed....
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
No, it's not quite gun control in America, is it.
Still, I wouldn't set myself quite so implacably against it. It's an Idris Elba suggestion and he's ... well he's Idris Elba.
So what. Fuck Idris Elba if he comes up with bullshit ideas and expects to be given a free ride because he’s famous. Why should the opinion of a luvvie carry any weight. Let’s consult Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on The Chagos Islands and see what Peter Cetera has to say on a free trade agreement with the USA.
Stick to reading lines written for him.
Where’s the proof it will work. It’s a knee jerk reaction.
The Metropolitan Police has declined to investigate Sir Keir Starmer’s in person meeting with his voice coach during Covid lockdown.
On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said police should look into whether a visit by Leonie Mellinger to Labour’s London headquarters on Christmas Eve in 2020 had broken any Covid rules.
But a Met Police spokesman said the force was barred from any investigations of possible Covid breaches that had happened more than three years ago.
“We can confirm we have received a report,” the spokesman said. “The specific legislation that would be used by police forces dealing with alleged offences during Covid has a three-year deadline for initiating proceedings. As this alleged incident falls outside this timeframe, no action will be taken.”
You merely have to type his voice coaches name into Google, and you can see her tits. Just saying.
Hyufd has tits?
They weren't obvious when I knew him at uni...
And where did you study? I'm mainly asking so that I can reinforce my prejudices. Bad answers would include Oxford, and I'm off the bridge if you say Sussex.
The greatest university in the world.
Of course.
Aberystwyth.
Phew. Would you mind at all if I suggested that you seem a bit smarter than (without any actual knowledge) I take to be the average Aberystwythian? What happened?
Presumably you just met some quite dim ones, rather than brilliant ones like me, Sandpit, Hyu...umm, hold on...
(Actually, Hyufd is pretty bright, so that's not fair.)
Seriously, Aberystwth is uneven in quality, but one very fine department - better than any other in the country while I was there - was the Department of International Politics, which was the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. I gather it's gone downhill since due to several botched reorganisations, as has, for example, the formerly world renowned IGER, but it was great then.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Cricket bats?
So there's no point in any laws against people having or carrying around any kind of weapon?
I bet banning pointy knives would save a few lives. The question is if it's practical to ban pointy knives, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
Yes, same here. I used to do it too. He had a flounce due to people daring to be critical of the labour govt and unlike the other flouncers, has yet to return.
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
"Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade." - Is this true? Are we not beyond the simplistic idea of it must be 'x' or 'y'? Why not the best person for the job? That's partly why I support pushing back on EDI (sorry, that should be DEI now, apparently, missed the memo).
Of course the best person for the job and all that. But leadership elections often aren't about the best person for the job (as different people have very different criteria) - they're about who is the best ideological fit for a party's idea of itself at anyone time, what came before and whether you want continuity or change, and who can unite different factions enough to win.
Look at the recent Tory leadership election - which ended up a choice between a dud and a slightly sharper more Maciavellian dud. The membership chose the sui generis dud. Labour previously chose Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have picked Liz Truss, IDS, plus Boris - someone who was the right fit electorally but disastrous in the end due to failings that many knew should be disqualifying long before he was in the cabinet let alone stood for the Tory leadership.
My point is that perhaps unlike at some points in the past, Labour activists will quite clearly be well disposed towards the idea of electing a female leader next time, and will have plenty of options who either meet the threshold of experience in big government jobs (if are looking for that), or a strong media presence if want an outsider.
That likely means a male candidate will have to be outstanding and popular with the membership to win. Even if you think the former, Streeting isn't the latter. If it's effectively him versus Rayner, say, he won't win.
I agree with what you're saying but if Streeting is a standout - ie it's clear he has far more 'it' than anybody else - I think he has a good chance. I wouldn't rule him out on gender grounds, is what I mean, despite it being a minus for him.
The gender bias is really strong in history. Of the six female candidates, Yvette Cooper and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the only two not to finish last (and they beat two of the others).
Yep. Same in America. Two strong and viable female candidates for president yet the same male buffoon was preferred to both. Go figure.
The Tories, to their credit, are a standout on this.
It's almost as if rejecting the concepts of quotas and "positive" discrimination is a good idea.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Cricket bats?
So there's no point in any laws against people having or carrying around any kind of weapon?
I bet banning pointy knives would save a few lives. The question is if it's practical to ban pointy knives, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
You should be called JokeGuy, lucky. If her Lazy Excellence hadn’t skipped security briefings, should might have landed a punch.
But Farage was very interesting. Not banging on about traitors giving the empire away, or boat crossings on porous borders, or lack of homes due to 1M each year in new migrants, he linked pensioners empty pockets as a reason to abandon Labour for Reform, in the way the Conservative front bench can’t do just yet as they were in control so long till recently so are linked to the financial pain.
Um, piss off. Kier's risible 'security briefings' defence was the worst part of his performance. Well, except that strangled "No thaaaanks". But nothing is worse than that.
His briefings were getting howls of derision by the end - he ended up inventing briefings that Kemi should have attended for things that don't even have briefings.
That would be SKS's ideal form of PMQs though probably wouldn't it? None of this nasty holding the Government to account and stirring up the public. Let's just have a briefing beforehand and then go through the motions. Sadly that's not the way it worked out for him today.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
No, but maliciously playing the racism card... well, maybe not, but karma is a strange thing.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
When you have a whole Camel Squadron at your command, it’s implied.
Who is everyone's pick for next Labour leader? I think Yvette Cooper.
What has she ever done except for the shambles that was hips.....why would you want such an asinine person in charge when the only thing she championed was a complete idiocy?
At least when buying a house it meant we had something to rely on. Hips dont lie.
She should replicate it with KIPS. Each knife would come with an information pack about the specific risks associated with it.
Can't wait for her to get round to NIPS...
(The Northern Ireland Police Service would have been so cool if that had been how they were branded....)
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
"Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade." - Is this true? Are we not beyond the simplistic idea of it must be 'x' or 'y'? Why not the best person for the job? That's partly why I support pushing back on EDI (sorry, that should be DEI now, apparently, missed the memo).
Of course the best person for the job and all that. But leadership elections often aren't about the best person for the job (as different people have very different criteria) - they're about who is the best ideological fit for a party's idea of itself at anyone time, what came before and whether you want continuity or change, and who can unite different factions enough to win.
Look at the recent Tory leadership election - which ended up a choice between a dud and a slightly sharper more Maciavellian dud. The membership chose the sui generis dud. Labour previously chose Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have picked Liz Truss, IDS, plus Boris - someone who was the right fit electorally but disastrous in the end due to failings that many knew should be disqualifying long before he was in the cabinet let alone stood for the Tory leadership.
My point is that perhaps unlike at some points in the past, Labour activists will quite clearly be well disposed towards the idea of electing a female leader next time, and will have plenty of options who either meet the threshold of experience in big government jobs (if are looking for that), or a strong media presence if want an outsider.
That likely means a male candidate will have to be outstanding and popular with the membership to win. Even if you think the former, Streeting isn't the latter. If it's effectively him versus Rayner, say, he won't win.
I agree with what you're saying but if Streeting is a standout - ie it's clear he has far more 'it' than anybody else - I think he has a good chance. I wouldn't rule him out on gender grounds, is what I mean, despite it being a minus for him.
The gender bias is really strong in history. Of the six female candidates, Yvette Cooper and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the only two not to finish last (and they beat two of the others).
Yep. Same in America. Two strong and viable female candidates for president yet the same male buffoon was preferred to both. Go figure.
The Tories, to their credit, are a standout on this.
One strong and viable candidate and Mommala who was anything but.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
No, but maliciously playing the racism card... well, maybe not, but karma is a strange thing.
I'm betting on an acquittal on this one. But her card playing looks ludicrous based on the reporting. If there is a conviction, expect to hear the same card a lot more.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
No, it's not quite gun control in America, is it.
Still, I wouldn't set myself quite so implacably against it. It's an Idris Elba suggestion and he's ... well he's Idris Elba.
So what. Fuck Idris Elba if he comes up with bullshit ideas and expects to be given a free ride because he’s famous. Why should the opinion of a luvvie carry any weight. Let’s consult Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on The Chagos Islands and see what Peter Cetera has to say on a free trade agreement with the USA.
Stick to reading lines written for him.
Where’s the proof it will work. It’s a knee jerk reaction.
He's done a fair amount in this area, I believe. Not sure a "fuck him" reaction is quite rational. Poor guy.
Plus he was nearly Bond. Would you be saying fuck him if he was? Braver man than me if so.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
Yes, same here. I used to do it too. He had a flounce due to people daring to be critical of the labour govt and unlike the other flouncers, has yet to return.
Oh dear. Not many places you can go to escape criticism of the Labour Government these days.
Our Ange has allowed the following councils to cancel their elections
Norfolk Suffolk Essex Thurrock Surrey East Sussex West Sussex Hampshire Isle of Wight
GB News are still buggering on about how cancelling all the Elections makes us a dictatorship !
Only a minority cancelled. Ooops.
Ed Davey is also criticising it as well.
It's an odd choice of which are included and which are not, and the delays in announcing suggest it was being amended right up to the last minute.
If I wanted to bring in strategic authorities and get rid of most districts as soon as possible I'd prioritise mayoralties in areas which don't need local government reorganisation - since that will be easy to do in a year with no suspension of elections needed - and then permit elections for existing districts etc whilst pushing ahead with plans to merge them. Historically some have taken a few years, so that shouldn't be the first thing tried.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Cricket bats?
So there's no point in any laws against people having or carrying around any kind of weapon?
I bet banning pointy knives would save a few lives. The question is if it's practical to ban pointy knives, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Don't talk bollocks people are easy to kill with so many everday objects. You decide to kill someone your choices are limitless....a knife may spring to mind first but if not available will be a cricket bat, a tire iron, a screwdriver etc
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
Yes, same here. I used to do it too. He had a flounce due to people daring to be critical of the labour govt and unlike the other flouncers, has yet to return.
Oh dear. Not many places you can go to escape criticism of the Labour Government these days.
I wonder if there is a support group for like minded fellows. Similar to Alcoholics Anonymous or the 1-2-1 club from Dear John.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
"Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade." - Is this true? Are we not beyond the simplistic idea of it must be 'x' or 'y'? Why not the best person for the job? That's partly why I support pushing back on EDI (sorry, that should be DEI now, apparently, missed the memo).
Of course the best person for the job and all that. But leadership elections often aren't about the best person for the job (as different people have very different criteria) - they're about who is the best ideological fit for a party's idea of itself at anyone time, what came before and whether you want continuity or change, and who can unite different factions enough to win.
Look at the recent Tory leadership election - which ended up a choice between a dud and a slightly sharper more Maciavellian dud. The membership chose the sui generis dud. Labour previously chose Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have picked Liz Truss, IDS, plus Boris - someone who was the right fit electorally but disastrous in the end due to failings that many knew should be disqualifying long before he was in the cabinet let alone stood for the Tory leadership.
My point is that perhaps unlike at some points in the past, Labour activists will quite clearly be well disposed towards the idea of electing a female leader next time, and will have plenty of options who either meet the threshold of experience in big government jobs (if are looking for that), or a strong media presence if want an outsider.
That likely means a male candidate will have to be outstanding and popular with the membership to win. Even if you think the former, Streeting isn't the latter. If it's effectively him versus Rayner, say, he won't win.
I agree with what you're saying but if Streeting is a standout - ie it's clear he has far more 'it' than anybody else - I think he has a good chance. I wouldn't rule him out on gender grounds, is what I mean, despite it being a minus for him.
The gender bias is really strong in history. Of the six female candidates, Yvette Cooper and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the only two not to finish last (and they beat two of the others).
Yep. Same in America. Two strong and viable female candidates for president yet the same male buffoon was preferred to both. Go figure.
The Tories, to their credit, are a standout on this.
Assuming you're talking about Hilary Clinton as one of those female candidates, she WAS actually preferred to Donald Trump. It was the bizarre and screwy 18th century Electoral College that denied her victory, not the votes of the Deplorables.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
No, it's not quite gun control in America, is it.
Still, I wouldn't set myself quite so implacably against it. It's an Idris Elba suggestion and he's ... well he's Idris Elba.
So what. Fuck Idris Elba if he comes up with bullshit ideas and expects to be given a free ride because he’s famous. Why should the opinion of a luvvie carry any weight. Let’s consult Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on The Chagos Islands and see what Peter Cetera has to say on a free trade agreement with the USA.
Stick to reading lines written for him.
Where’s the proof it will work. It’s a knee jerk reaction.
He's done a fair amount in this area, I believe. Not sure a "fuck him" reaction is quite rational. Poor guy.
Plus he was nearly Bond. Would you be saying fuck him if he was? Braver man than me if so.
quite frankly so what if he has done work. Good for him for that. Doesn’t make him right about the solution which does nothing to tackle the root cause of the problem.
Something you failed to understand too, probably why you think he’s ace.
Good Lord Sir Kier got his arse handed to him at PMQs. Kemi had a few adrenaliney jitters but overall she had a gaping open goal and slammed it in. The man was an incomprehensible blubbering wreck.
Not that I care, but seeing as you have a fetish for correcting everyone else's posts, it is Keir not Kier.
I know. I do it to annoy Anabobazina. Though I haven't seen him around these parts of late.
Yes, same here. I used to do it too. He had a flounce due to people daring to be critical of the labour govt and unlike the other flouncers, has yet to return.
Oh dear. Not many places you can go to escape criticism of the Labour Government these days.
The voters are so ungrateful for not appreciating the excellence of execution that we are getting from SKS and this govt.
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
"Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade." - Is this true? Are we not beyond the simplistic idea of it must be 'x' or 'y'? Why not the best person for the job? That's partly why I support pushing back on EDI (sorry, that should be DEI now, apparently, missed the memo).
Of course the best person for the job and all that. But leadership elections often aren't about the best person for the job (as different people have very different criteria) - they're about who is the best ideological fit for a party's idea of itself at anyone time, what came before and whether you want continuity or change, and who can unite different factions enough to win.
Look at the recent Tory leadership election - which ended up a choice between a dud and a slightly sharper more Maciavellian dud. The membership chose the sui generis dud. Labour previously chose Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have picked Liz Truss, IDS, plus Boris - someone who was the right fit electorally but disastrous in the end due to failings that many knew should be disqualifying long before he was in the cabinet let alone stood for the Tory leadership.
My point is that perhaps unlike at some points in the past, Labour activists will quite clearly be well disposed towards the idea of electing a female leader next time, and will have plenty of options who either meet the threshold of experience in big government jobs (if are looking for that), or a strong media presence if want an outsider.
That likely means a male candidate will have to be outstanding and popular with the membership to win. Even if you think the former, Streeting isn't the latter. If it's effectively him versus Rayner, say, he won't win.
I agree with what you're saying but if Streeting is a standout - ie it's clear he has far more 'it' than anybody else - I think he has a good chance. I wouldn't rule him out on gender grounds, is what I mean, despite it being a minus for him.
The gender bias is really strong in history. Of the six female candidates, Yvette Cooper and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the only two not to finish last (and they beat two of the others).
Yep. Same in America. Two strong and viable female candidates for president yet the same male buffoon was preferred to both. Go figure.
The Tories, to their credit, are a standout on this.
Assuming you're talking about Hilary Clinton as one of those female candidates, she WAS actually preferred to Donald Trump. It was the bizarre and screwy 18th century Electoral College that denied her victory, not the votes of the Deplorables.
Thankfully no country deserves that bitch in charge, trump is both an arse and protofascist but hilary was a full blown hitler
When we ban pointy knives, and it doesn’t work, will we come for the screwdrivers? How will we stop people breaking knives to get a point? What about good old fashioned toothbrush shivs? Will we ban bottles?
Don’t tell them about cars - if they find out they are responsible for around 7 times more deaths in the UK we’re all walking and Dura Ace will have nothing to live for.
Don't be silly, he'll still have his titanium Brompton.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
Is Starmer not going because it is part of a project started by the last Tory gov?
Is Starmer missing a big international conference with major players to avoid more criticism for being abroad when this is one he should definitely be at and more important than optics?
Are the French incapable of doing things without trying to take it over and alter it so it’s all about France rather than international collaboration re AI?
“The president wants to make it a kind of AI version of Choose France,” an Elysée spokesperson said. “Choose France is the annual summit aimed at proving how attractive the country is to major foreign corporations.”
Like with sports they didn’t create but then run around setting up organisations to control them.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
True, but this feels like those joke suggestions or lowering the speed limit to 5 mph to eliminate crashes - not as extreme as that, but in terms of whether it is really proportionate.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
More security? More ways to stop terrorists murdering, abducting, raping? Lots of what Israel has done in the name of responding to 7th October can be seen as over the top, barbaric, a step too far. For sure. But then Hamas sought this out. They sewed the wind. What did they think would happen?
Why stop at Oct 7th, the history goes back decades.
Yes, it does, but Oct 7th was what caused the latest flare up in a long line of hate.
At some point people need to sit down together with their enemies and talk. Its happened in Northern Ireland thankfully. Why not in the ME?
I suppose one advantage in Nirthern Ireland was that an increasing number of people didn't regard themselves as Protestant or Catholic, or even if they did, didn't think that defined them.any more.
I was musing on this last night in the context of Islamophobia. I think people have a lot more issues with Islam (and muslims in general) because of the coupling of Islam to the state. Islamic countries tend to have their religion at the heart of government and everyday life, in a way that has not been the case in the West for a very long time. So in terms of culture an influx of x muslims feels more threatening than an influx of Budhists, for instance. It feels inevitable in the UK that religion fades away (as we become more rational? Is that a stretch?) Has this transition started for Islam yet? Was it their in Iran in the 1970's?
(edit for stupid typo)
Yes, it's a stretch.
I think it was CS Lewis who observed that when people stop believing in religion they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.
Empirically, that seems to be what happens at least in our society.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Cricket bats?
So there's no point in any laws against people having or carrying around any kind of weapon?
I bet banning pointy knives would save a few lives. The question is if it's practical to ban pointy knives, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Don't talk bollocks people are easy to kill with so many everday objects. You decide to kill someone your choices are limitless....a knife may spring to mind first but if not available will be a cricket bat, a tire iron, a screwdriver etc
I wonder if we can get some luvvie to campaign to ban flat headed screwdrivers ?
On topic, I agree Streeting is probably a lay. For one thing, Labour will really, really want a female leader after an unbroken succession of white men.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
"Biggles Flies Undone" I have remarked on here already. But there is also "Biggles and Algy Nip Behind the Hangar".
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
Exactly this. Even with the U.S. staying out of the war in 1942, Hitler would have had to give up on us, especially as he got tied up in the East.
It’s a toss up whether we could have won in North Africa alone and kept the oil flowing, but I assume no U.S. declaration of war means no big Japanese push so we could have reinforced.
In the end though, Germany/Japan would have done something to bring the yanks in. It was inevitable. And once the Allies were all in, we were always going to win (knowing what we know now - wasn’t as obvious then).
Hmmm... I'm a little less sanguine than you.
If Hitler had been less dumb, he would have sent his troops to North Africa first and cut off UK oil. At which point we would have been in serious trouble: no oil, U-boats in the Atlantic, and Japan unchecked in the Far East.
Fortunately, he had dreams of lebensraum. And fortunately, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. But there were many ways we could have lost the war.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
More security? More ways to stop terrorists murdering, abducting, raping? Lots of what Israel has done in the name of responding to 7th October can be seen as over the top, barbaric, a step too far. For sure. But then Hamas sought this out. They sewed the wind. What did they think would happen?
Why stop at Oct 7th, the history goes back decades.
Yes, it does, but Oct 7th was what caused the latest flare up in a long line of hate.
At some point people need to sit down together with their enemies and talk. Its happened in Northern Ireland thankfully. Why not in the ME?
I suppose one advantage in Nirthern Ireland was that an increasing number of people didn't regard themselves as Protestant or Catholic, or even if they did, didn't think that defined them.any more.
I was musing on this last night in the context of Islamophobia. I think people have a lot more issues with Islam (and muslims in general) because of the coupling of Islam to the state. Islamic countries tend to have their religion at the heart of government and everyday life, in a way that has not been the case in the West for a very long time. So in terms of culture an influx of x muslims feels more threatening than an influx of Budhists, for instance. It feels inevitable in the UK that religion fades away (as we become more rational? Is that a stretch?) Has this transition started for Islam yet? Was it their in Iran in the 1970's?
(edit for stupid typo)
Yes, it's a stretch.
I think it was CS Lewis who observed that when people stop believing in religion they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.
Empirically, that seems to be what happens at least in our society.
Really?
I think the evidence is that those espouse belief in God are more likely to believe in things like tarot cards.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
AIUI he wants them to go to Indonesia
If Jakarta can be persuaded (that’s one of the world’s bigger ifs) that would be a great choice. Sunny, fertile, Muslim but quite relaxed, and in a booming part of the world
Because, let’s face it, what is the alternative? After October 7 Israel will NEVER agree to a 2 state solution. It was already extremely unlikely Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes pre 1947, now it is utterly impossible
So what’s left? They will just sit there, in squalor and misery, in the rubble of Gaza, for the rest of time? That’s it? I doubt it. If I were Palestinian I would hate Jews so much I would try and do another October 7, eventually one of them will succeed, so we have another October 7, and this time Israel will kill 80,000 or 500,000 not 40,000, or maybe Israel will kill all of them, fuck knows but that is the future unless someone suggests a new and radically different solution
I believe the cumulative death toll is closer to 500 000 than 40 000.
You state everything as absolute and predetermined I think differently. Israel will do what the US requires of them and once Americans are no longer willing to fund endless atrocities these immutable ideas will change. You cannot bomb your neighbours and threaten a continent whilst living on a postage stamp.
Israel relies on a mercurial superpower for most of their weapons and have a population of 10 million. They will have to compromise.
Weren't we rather postage stamp-sized relatively in 1940s and didn't we need to rely on the US to do what was right. So what you suggest is not inevitable.
We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire. Israel is surrounded by places it has bombed and some concrete walls. You're a shouty military man do you really think they will ever be secure?
"We had 20 odd miles of moat and an empire."
Genuinely LOL.
Do you suppose our moat would have protected us absent US involvement.
The US wasn't secure on 9/11 and in Boston. We weren't secure from PIRA and latterly from IS-inspired events. Is Israel secure? Evidently not either as we have seen. But is it an existential threat - yes as far as Hamas and plenty of "ordinary decent Palestinians" are concerned. But practically no. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Unlike it seems perhaps according to The Donald's latest idea, those selfsame Palestinians.
Our 'moat' did protect us. Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion after losing the Battle of Britain ... hat-tip Polish and Czechoslovak pilots ..... and turned his face East. With eventually fatal results.
Arguably the Battle of Britain was beside the point. The Royal Navy would have decimated any invasion fleet, even with the Luftwaffe ascendant.
Exactly this. Even with the U.S. staying out of the war in 1942, Hitler would have had to give up on us, especially as he got tied up in the East.
It’s a toss up whether we could have won in North Africa alone and kept the oil flowing, but I assume no U.S. declaration of war means no big Japanese push so we could have reinforced.
In the end though, Germany/Japan would have done something to bring the yanks in. It was inevitable. And once the Allies were all in, we were always going to win (knowing what we know now - wasn’t as obvious then).
Hmmm... I'm a little less sanguine than you.
If Hitler had been less dumb, he would have sent his troops to North Africa first and cut off UK oil. At which point we would have been in serious trouble: no oil, U-boats in the Atlantic, and Japan unchecked in the Far East.
Fortunately, he had dreams of lebensraum. And fortunately, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. But there were many ways we could have lost the war.
And Hitler declared war on the USA, not the other way round.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
More security? More ways to stop terrorists murdering, abducting, raping? Lots of what Israel has done in the name of responding to 7th October can be seen as over the top, barbaric, a step too far. For sure. But then Hamas sought this out. They sewed the wind. What did they think would happen?
Why stop at Oct 7th, the history goes back decades.
Yes, it does, but Oct 7th was what caused the latest flare up in a long line of hate.
At some point people need to sit down together with their enemies and talk. Its happened in Northern Ireland thankfully. Why not in the ME?
I suppose one advantage in Nirthern Ireland was that an increasing number of people didn't regard themselves as Protestant or Catholic, or even if they did, didn't think that defined them.any more.
I was musing on this last night in the context of Islamophobia. I think people have a lot more issues with Islam (and muslims in general) because of the coupling of Islam to the state. Islamic countries tend to have their religion at the heart of government and everyday life, in a way that has not been the case in the West for a very long time. So in terms of culture an influx of x muslims feels more threatening than an influx of Budhists, for instance. It feels inevitable in the UK that religion fades away (as we become more rational? Is that a stretch?) Has this transition started for Islam yet? Was it their in Iran in the 1970's?
(edit for stupid typo)
I think it was CS Lewis who observed that when people stop believing in religion they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.
That sounds implausible to me. Seems more likely to suggest they don't believe in nothing, they believe in something else, rather than anything.
There's plenty of things we may treat much like religious belief, in its place, but the use of 'anything' there seems like losing religious belief is inherently bad.
It's like the trope you occasionally see that because many atheists believe things intensely, that humans have an inherent need to believe things, that shows they are missing a belief in god and overcompensating (I heard this last year at an event).
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
I'm not saying you will deter all - or even the majority - of crimes. I'm merely pointing out that the logical conclusion of the argument that "well, they'd always find something else they could use to kill" is that places where the local criminals went around touting AK47s would be no less safe than Balham on a Saturday night.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
Albeit the Second World War books aren't a patch on the WW1 ones.
On topic, I agree Streeting is probably a lay. For one thing, Labour will really, really want a female leader after an unbroken succession of white men.
Ed Miliband.
He was the future once!
It's a rare politician who can be in office, then out of it for 14 years, and then still be at the top again.
I'm not sure Ed M is worthy of doing that, but he has managed it.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
But where do you stop ? A kitchen knife isn’t a lethal weapon. It’s a cooking utensil that can be misused as one. What about screwdrivers. Chisels, or any other number of household implements that can be misused.
It also does nothing to stop, or minimise, why these issues happen in the first place. We’ve had kitchen knives with pointed ends for years yet we have not had this level of stabbings until relatively recently. Making knives round on the end doesn’t change that.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
Albeit the Second World War books aren't a patch on the WW1 ones.
Spitfire Parade is very much a patch on the WW1 stories- more plagiarised than a bloody Golbert and Sullivan opera.
In suggesting Labour is on unsafe ground in Ilford North, we are, of course, assuming that pro-Gaza Independents will still be a thing in May 2029. Apart from any other consideration we'll have a different US president to deal with.
But what will Gaza be like given the Trumpdozer and his mates seem to want to make it prime real estate.
Take Trump seriously but not literally and work out the possibilities from there.
Can anyone tell us what is the best plan as yet from anyone with power but who isn't Trump?
Stick with a 2-state solution. Put pressure on Israel to accept it. The US could do this if they wanted to.
No, they couldn’t
After October 7 there is no two state solution. It’s done
So what’s next? The only world leader offering ANY future to the Palestinians is - irony of ironies - Donald Trump
What future?
He's offering them a forced relocation to the desert whilst providing the Israelis with more bombs. No doubt as soon as they move they will be bombed and once they settle they will be bombed. What choice?
There was a Israeli spokeswoman on the WATO who's rhetoric was indistinguishable from Nazi pamphlets. And this is a spokeswoman. Imagine what is said behind the scenes. Hopefully the Arabs will now understand that America will always support Israeli aggression. And Israel will always want more.
More security? More ways to stop terrorists murdering, abducting, raping? Lots of what Israel has done in the name of responding to 7th October can be seen as over the top, barbaric, a step too far. For sure. But then Hamas sought this out. They sewed the wind. What did they think would happen?
Why stop at Oct 7th, the history goes back decades.
Yes, it does, but Oct 7th was what caused the latest flare up in a long line of hate.
At some point people need to sit down together with their enemies and talk. Its happened in Northern Ireland thankfully. Why not in the ME?
I suppose one advantage in Nirthern Ireland was that an increasing number of people didn't regard themselves as Protestant or Catholic, or even if they did, didn't think that defined them.any more.
I was musing on this last night in the context of Islamophobia. I think people have a lot more issues with Islam (and muslims in general) because of the coupling of Islam to the state. Islamic countries tend to have their religion at the heart of government and everyday life, in a way that has not been the case in the West for a very long time. So in terms of culture an influx of x muslims feels more threatening than an influx of Budhists, for instance. It feels inevitable in the UK that religion fades away (as we become more rational? Is that a stretch?) Has this transition started for Islam yet? Was it their in Iran in the 1970's?
(edit for stupid typo)
Yes, it's a stretch.
I think it was CS Lewis who observed that when people stop believing in religion they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.
Empirically, that seems to be what happens at least in our society.
Really?
I think the evidence is that those espouse belief in God are more likely to believe in things like tarot cards.
Certainly more disposed to believe something like dungeons and dragons or harry potter leads people to sacrificing virgins to his satanic majesty. (Quite where they think you find virgins in this day and age is never explained)
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
True, but this feels like those joke suggestions or lowering the speed limit to 5 mph to eliminate crashes - not as extreme as that, but in terms of whether it is really proportionate.
A good point. (Geddit?)
Is the reduction in deaths worth the diminution in personal freedoms, especially given how rare knife crimes are.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
Could you please just go with it for the purposes of the joke, as Alan Partridge once said
When we ban pointy knives, and it doesn’t work, will we come for the screwdrivers? How will we stop people breaking knives to get a point? What about good old fashioned toothbrush shivs? Will we ban bottles?
Don’t tell them about cars - if they find out they are responsible for around 7 times more deaths in the UK we’re all walking and Dura Ace will have nothing to live for.
Don't be silly, he'll still have his titanium Brompton.
A Titanium Brompton sounds like an upmarket pegging device for your more discerning gentleman.
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
"Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade." - Is this true? Are we not beyond the simplistic idea of it must be 'x' or 'y'? Why not the best person for the job? That's partly why I support pushing back on EDI (sorry, that should be DEI now, apparently, missed the memo).
Of course the best person for the job and all that. But leadership elections often aren't about the best person for the job (as different people have very different criteria) - they're about who is the best ideological fit for a party's idea of itself at anyone time, what came before and whether you want continuity or change, and who can unite different factions enough to win.
Look at the recent Tory leadership election - which ended up a choice between a dud and a slightly sharper more Maciavellian dud. The membership chose the sui generis dud. Labour previously chose Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have picked Liz Truss, IDS, plus Boris - someone who was the right fit electorally but disastrous in the end due to failings that many knew should be disqualifying long before he was in the cabinet let alone stood for the Tory leadership.
My point is that perhaps unlike at some points in the past, Labour activists will quite clearly be well disposed towards the idea of electing a female leader next time, and will have plenty of options who either meet the threshold of experience in big government jobs (if are looking for that), or a strong media presence if want an outsider.
That likely means a male candidate will have to be outstanding and popular with the membership to win. Even if you think the former, Streeting isn't the latter. If it's effectively him versus Rayner, say, he won't win.
I agree with what you're saying but if Streeting is a standout - ie it's clear he has far more 'it' than anybody else - I think he has a good chance. I wouldn't rule him out on gender grounds, is what I mean, despite it being a minus for him.
The gender bias is really strong in history. Of the six female candidates, Yvette Cooper and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the only two not to finish last (and they beat two of the others).
Yep. Same in America. Two strong and viable female candidates for president yet the same male buffoon was preferred to both. Go figure.
The Tories, to their credit, are a standout on this.
Assuming you're talking about Hilary Clinton as one of those female candidates, she WAS actually preferred to Donald Trump. It was the bizarre and screwy 18th century Electoral College that denied her victory, not the votes of the Deplorables.
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
I'm not saying you will deter all - or even the majority - of crimes. I'm merely pointing out that the logical conclusion of the argument that "well, they'd always find something else they could use to kill" is that places where the local criminals went around touting AK47s would be no less safe than Balham on a Saturday night.
ah well you see guns are a different category of weapon...you can kill easily lots of people with an ak47 from a distance....a knife is up close, personal and much more sensual
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
It’s also not uncommon for the blade carrier to end up having his, or her, could be a woman, used against them.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
Could you please just go with it for the purposes of the joke, as Alan Partridge once said
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
Albeit the Second World War books aren't a patch on the WW1 ones.
Spitfire Parade is very much a patch on the WW1 stories- more plagiarised than a bloody Golbert and Sullivan opera.
I read that a very long time ago, so don't remember it well.
However, the WW1 books I have read recently, and they hold up remarkably well. In particular, there isn't a lot of the glorification of war in there, and there's a lot of people cracking under the pressure. The White Fokker is a particular favourite of mine.
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
Albeit the Second World War books aren't a patch on the WW1 ones.
Spitfire Parade is very much a patch on the WW1 stories- more plagiarised than a bloody Golbert and Sullivan opera.
I read that a very long time ago, so don't remember it well.
However, the WW1 books I have read recently, and they hold up remarkably well. In particular, there isn't a lot of the glorification of war in there, and there's a lot of people cracking under the pressure. The White Fokker is a particular favourite of mine.
Spitfire Parade is basically an unconvincing rehash of some of the less gritty WW1 stories. Including the one with the Christmas turkey.
On topic, I seriously doubt Streeting will succeed Starmer anyway for two reasons, firstly the left and soft left of Labour really don't like him. The person who succeeds Starmer - either in power or as opposition leader after a loss - is likely to be someone who can at least put feelers out to those people, and someone who makes the party feel better about itself over someone telling it hard truths about power.
Secondly, he's not a woman. That may sound daft but Labour is quite obviously embarrassed now about never electing a female leade. Given the Chancellor, DPM, Home Secretary, education secretary, and plenty of the more prominent mid-ranking ministers or backbenchers who could try an insurgent campaign are women, there's not going to be a good excuse that the bloke is the only viable option this time unless the field thins out massively.
Same reason Burnham may struggle should he ever get back to Westminster - though the first point doesn't apply - so maybe slightly better place if he can become an MP.
Rayner would be strong favourite to succeed Starmer if he loses the next general election or is replaced beforehand.
Though Rayner's seat is a Reform target seat unlike Starmer's
FFS , bring back Boris if that big duffer ever gets near power
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
I'm not saying you will deter all - or even the majority - of crimes. I'm merely pointing out that the logical conclusion of the argument that "well, they'd always find something else they could use to kill" is that places where the local criminals went around touting AK47s would be no less safe than Balham on a Saturday night.
ah well you see guns are a different category of weapon...you can kill easily lots of people with an ak47 from a distance....a knife is up close, personal and much more sensual
All it will achieve is more expensive kitchen knives as production will have to be adapted for those blades destined for UK market compared to rest of the world.
No it won’t. Non pointy knives are already quite common.
So let’s tackle the symptom but not the cause.
Pointy kitchen knives are a symptom?
He means the reason people want to kill each other...if they don't use knives there are a million ways to do it unless you want to ban for example cricket bats too
Oh yes, I see. The "tools" then. We're tackling the tools not the root cause.
A tool. Singular. There are many tools used to exact vengeance and take a life. Knives will simply be supplanted by something else. These people have no regard for others lives do you seriously think a half wit bannjng the sale of knives with pointed ends will stop Stan the Stabber or Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham getting a tool to exact brutal justice against someone who dissed them.
While that's true, one only has to look at the US to discover that if you make it a little harder to find a lethal weapon, then you will prevent at least a few murders.
You deter maybe the "in the moment ones" where they have a weapon on them....however as I said if they were going to carry a knife...they will now carry a screwdriver, an awl etc both of which are actually better stabbing weapons. A wide bladed knife if not used properly tends to get hooked up on ribs and most stabbers need tuition on the best way to use one
It’s also not uncommon for the blade carrier to end up having his, or her, could be a woman, used against them.
yes people carrying weapons they don't know how to use will often find that
I think that Sam Kerr was the author of her own misfortune.
It's hard not to conclude that they were pissed and behaved badly, and seem to be rather surprised that there were consequences to their actions.
She sounds like an arsehole drunk who was outraged at not being believed, which I doubt is unique with footballers of any gender in that situation, though being an arsehole in itself should not be a crime.
If being an arsehole were a crime...
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
I have no doubt, however, that many people think being an arsehole is, or should be, a crime.
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
I am ok with it being a crime, provided I am the arbiter of being an arsehole.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
Funny, I don't remember a 'Biggles enforces a police state' book.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His short lived and undistinguished foray into porn?
That was 'Biggles' Camel Hump.'
A focker on every page.
Did Biggles say ‘these fockers were in Messerschmitts’ ?
Were there any Messerschmitts in WW1?
#PBpendantry
biggles fought in both wars I believe pbbiggerpederantry
Albeit the Second World War books aren't a patch on the WW1 ones.
Spitfire Parade is very much a patch on the WW1 stories- more plagiarised than a bloody Golbert and Sullivan opera.
I read that a very long time ago, so don't remember it well.
However, the WW1 books I have read recently, and they hold up remarkably well. In particular, there isn't a lot of the glorification of war in there, and there's a lot of people cracking under the pressure. The White Fokker is a particular favourite of mine.
Spitfire Parade is basically an unconvincing rehash of some of the less gritty WW1 stories. Including the one with the Christmas turkey.
Ah, I always remember that one. Poor bloody Turkey.
I'd suggest one of the reasons that knife crime exercises us so much is positive: it's because gun crime is relatively rare in the UK, for a variety of reasons including accessibility. So knives are the chosen weapon of many ne'er-do-wells.
I share the scepticism about banning pointed knives. However, amidst all the scathing comments on here about the government's approach, I can't recall reading a single sensible suggestion that would reduce knife crime, either the act itself or the root causes. It's easy to oppose - what's the solution?
When we ban pointy knives, and it doesn’t work, will we come for the screwdrivers? How will we stop people breaking knives to get a point? What about good old fashioned toothbrush shivs? Will we ban bottles?
Don’t tell them about cars - if they find out they are responsible for around 7 times more deaths in the UK we’re all walking and Dura Ace will have nothing to live for.
Don't be silly, he'll still have his titanium Brompton.
A Titanium Brompton sounds like an upmarket pegging device for your more discerning gentleman.
I'd suggest one of the reasons that knife crime exercises us so much is positive: it's because gun crime is relatively rare in the UK, for a variety of reasons including accessibility. So knives are the chosen weapon of many ne'er-do-wells.
I share the scepticism about banning pointed knives. However, amidst all the scathing comments on here about the government's approach, I can't recall reading a single sensible suggestion that would reduce knife crime, either the act itself or the root causes. It's easy to oppose -what's the solution?
Given how incompetent the government are, shouldn't they instead have a policy of increasing knife crime?
Comments
(The Northern Ireland Police Service would have been so cool if that had been how they were branded....)
fuck me, there'd be some by-elections...
It’s a toss up whether we could have won in North Africa alone and kept the oil flowing, but I assume no U.S. declaration of war means no big Japanese push so we could have reinforced.
In the end though, Germany/Japan would have done something to bring the yanks in. It was inevitable. And once the Allies were all in, we were always going to win (knowing what we know now - wasn’t as obvious then).
Sadly, in some cases, they may well be right!
If he can become the saviour of the NHS, turning around years of Tory decay, then the Labour party will see him as PM material - and Starmer will be a long way to getting re-elected.
Still, I wouldn't set myself quite so implacably against it. It's an Idris Elba suggestion and he's ... well he's Idris Elba.
She’s even claiming she was treated differently due to her skin colour.
Don’t thank me for holding the door? Prison.
Play music out loud on the train? Prison.
But Farage was very interesting. Not banging on about traitors giving the empire away, or boat crossings on porous borders, or lack of homes due to 1M each year in new migrants, he linked pensioners empty pockets as a reason to abandon Labour for Reform, in the way the Conservative front bench can’t do just yet as they were in control so long till recently so are linked to the financial pain.
The Pensioner generation still turn out for Tory’s, low lying fruit for Farage IMO if he represents putting pounds back in their pockets.
Stick to reading lines written for him.
Where’s the proof it will work. It’s a knee jerk reaction.
(Actually, Hyufd is pretty bright, so that's not fair.)
Seriously, Aberystwth is uneven in quality, but one very fine department - better than any other in the country while I was there - was the Department of International Politics, which was the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. I gather it's gone downhill since due to several botched reorganisations, as has, for example, the formerly world renowned IGER, but it was great then.
So there's no point in any laws against people having or carrying around any kind of weapon?
I bet banning pointy knives would save a few lives. The question is if it's practical to ban pointy knives, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Maybe that was 1956's - 'Biggles takes charge.
Leading to 1963's - 'Biggles takes it rough'.
His briefings were getting howls of derision by the end - he ended up inventing briefings that Kemi should have attended for things that don't even have briefings.
That would be SKS's ideal form of PMQs though probably wouldn't it? None of this nasty holding the Government to account and stirring up the public. Let's just have a briefing beforehand and then go through the motions. Sadly that's not the way it worked out for him today.
https://youtu.be/mvruP3ehQIc?si=GVngKcIklR5zimbf
Sunny P
Only a minority cancelled (9 from 21). Ooops.
Plus he was nearly Bond. Would you be saying fuck him if he was? Braver man than me if so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2025_United_Kingdom_local_elections&oldid=1273759101
If I wanted to bring in strategic authorities and get rid of most districts as soon as possible I'd prioritise mayoralties in areas which don't need local government reorganisation - since that will be easy to do in a year with no suspension of elections needed - and then permit elections for existing districts etc whilst pushing ahead with plans to merge them. Historically some have taken a few years, so that shouldn't be the first thing tried.
Something you failed to understand too, probably why you think he’s ace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL9iJJICOLc
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/05/keir-starmer-opts-not-to-attend-international-ai-summit-in-paris
Is Starmer not going because it is part of a project started by the last Tory gov?
Is Starmer missing a big international conference with major players to avoid more criticism for being abroad when this is one he should definitely be at and more important than optics?
Are the French incapable of doing things without trying to take it over and alter it so it’s all about France rather than international collaboration re AI?
“The president wants to make it a kind of AI version of Choose France,” an Elysée spokesperson said. “Choose France is the annual summit aimed at proving how attractive the country is to major foreign corporations.”
Like with sports they didn’t create but then run around setting up organisations to control them.
I think it was CS Lewis who observed that when people stop believing in religion they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.
Empirically, that seems to be what happens at least in our society.
I wonder if Hugh Dennis is available to front it.
If Hitler had been less dumb, he would have sent his troops to North Africa first and cut off UK oil. At which point we would have been in serious trouble: no oil, U-boats in the Atlantic, and Japan unchecked in the Far East.
Fortunately, he had dreams of lebensraum. And fortunately, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. But there were many ways we could have lost the war.
#PBpendantry
I think the evidence is that those espouse belief in God are more likely to believe in things like tarot cards.
There's plenty of things we may treat much like religious belief, in its place, but the use of 'anything' there seems like losing religious belief is inherently bad.
It's like the trope you occasionally see that because many atheists believe things intensely, that humans have an inherent need to believe things, that shows they are missing a belief in god and overcompensating (I heard this last year at an event).
I'm not sure Ed M is worthy of doing that, but he has managed it.
It also does nothing to stop, or minimise, why these issues happen in the first place. We’ve had kitchen knives with pointed ends for years yet we have not had this level of stabbings until relatively recently. Making knives round on the end doesn’t change that.
Is the reduction in deaths worth the diminution in personal freedoms, especially given how rare knife crimes are.
I am converted. Free knives for all!
'These Fokkers were Albatroses.'
However, the WW1 books I have read recently, and they hold up remarkably well. In particular, there isn't a lot of the glorification of war in there, and there's a lot of people cracking under the pressure. The White Fokker is a particular favourite of mine.
https://youtu.be/Z0mYHjFlh74?si=OxeOMR1ixF-0W16L
I share the scepticism about banning pointed knives. However, amidst all the scathing comments on here about the government's approach, I can't recall reading a single sensible suggestion that would reduce knife crime, either the act itself or the root causes. It's easy to oppose - what's the solution?
Russian sources are pledging Donald Trump has increased recent aid supplies to Ukraine despite counter signalling in communications.
Significant amounts of equipment are alleged to have been sent to Ukraine.