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This morning I said Rachel Reeves was safe in the forthcoming reshuffle – politicalbetting.com

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  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited February 13

    First series of Westworld had a superb twist for the viewer - multiple timelines that presented as a single timeline. Great fun. But then after they felt a need to have another great idea. And once you leave the Park you have to build a whole world, and frankly the workd they built didn’t work.
    Sometimes having the guts to stop after the story is told is a virtue.
    It was the perfect one series show.

    Its a bit like Jurassic Park (although there was a second book).
  • Words. Utterly meaningless in the face of his real world actions.

    Claiming that they need to do more to protect US citizens from environmental impacts and poor food and drug quality and safety whilst at the same time hamstringing the FDA and CDC tells you everything you need to know about how seriously Trump really takes these things.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097
    I lost a small blue rucksack on the tube at Euston station at about 2:30pm today. Must have dropped it without realising because I was carrying a lot of other things at the same time. Did anyone hand it in to lost property? Unfortunately not. I checked several times.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1890128005567058227

    Trump on Canada: "I spoke to Governor Trudeau ... they don't have military protection, and you take a look at what's going on out there ... people are in danger ... they need our protection."

    Maybe you could go over there are ask him to get a room with you ?
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,332
    Andy_JS said:

    I lost a small blue rucksack on the tube at Euston station at about 2:30pm today. Must have dropped it without realising because I was carrying a lot of other things at the same time. Did anyone hand it in to lost property? Unfortunately not. I checked several times.

    Could be worse; you could have watched it get blown up in a controlled explosion.
  • .
    dixiedean said:

    Having worked extensively in schools I believe I have the necessary experience to reply to the suggestion I should help set one up.
    "Do you think I'm fucking mental ?!?!"

    I am reasonably well to do. Reasonably intelligent. Quite strident with my views on some things and a child in school who has the realistic potential to become World Queen. Let’s assume I’m upset that her school is teaching woke things and think “hey let’s get other parents just like me to set up a new school to compete with the woke shit one”.

    Problem. I need a load of cash. Other committed parents. A suitable building. Permission to operate as a school, some teachers, something to teach that is more detailed than “not that woke shit”. And do so without upsetting my already busy life and need to earn dollar.

    As you say, my response to the Max throwaway “do your own school” idea is as you say. I’m not mental. And my daughter’s school is not woke.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974

    California's $2.2 billion dollar bird-killing solar plant to close

    https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/climate/ivanpah-desert-solar-closing/index.html

    Yep: photovoltaics beat solar thermal.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,924

    Well, given your pro-Corbyn views, it is fair to say you are the expert on irrelevence.
    Trump is following Corbyn policy on Ukraine

    Well done Donald.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780

    .

    I am reasonably well to do. Reasonably intelligent. Quite strident with my views on some things and a child in school who has the realistic potential to become World Queen. Let’s assume I’m upset that her school is teaching woke things and think “hey let’s get other parents just like me to set up a new school to compete with the woke shit one”.

    Problem. I need a load of cash. Other committed parents. A suitable building. Permission to operate as a school, some teachers, something to teach that is more detailed than “not that woke shit”. And do so without upsetting my already busy life and need to earn dollar.

    As you say, my response to the Max throwaway “do your own school” idea is as you say. I’m not mental. And my daughter’s school is not woke.
    Something like 600 Free Schools have been set up in the U.K.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242
    edited February 13

    Something like 600 Free Schools have been set up in the U.K.
    That's fantastic news. How many tens of thousands of others are there?

    I know we're not expecting all schools to be free schools, but the point was that it is pretty hard, and 600 is a big achievement but still not all that many.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,104
    Anyone watching Mussolini: Son of the Century? I thought it was too much of the zeitgeist not to watch so have done the first episode. Can’t decide if it’s genius or an expressionist/Futurist/modernist pastiche. Leon’s favourite old school Fascist warrior poet D’Annunzio plays quite a big part, green teeth and all.
    The intro has dead Mussolini talking to us over a montage of his ‘achievements’ concluding with his bloody death. He ends by asking ‘Now tell me, what was the point? Look around you…we’re still here’.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974
    kle4 said:

    That's fantastic news. How many tens of thousands of others are there?

    I know we're not expecting all schools to be free schools, but the point was that it is pretty hard, and 600 is a lot of work but still not all that many.
    A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

    (Btw, does this include the Reg Vardy Creationism is Real schools?)
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    kle4 said:

    That's fantastic news. How many tens of thousands of others are there?

    I know we're not expecting all schools to be free schools, but the point was that it is pretty hard, and 600 is a big achievement but still not all that many.
    IIRC that’s about 2% of schools in the U.K.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,258

    Zelensky fans 😃

    You are now irrelevant.

    It's true what they say, the political spectrum is like a horseshoe... If you go too far left-wing, you end up reaching the head-up-Putin's-arse end of the political spectrum.
  • Trump is following Corbyn policy on Ukraine

    Well done Donald.
    With their Black-shirted fellow travellers of the 1930s.
  • Something like 600 Free Schools have been set up in the U.K.
    How many will be left after Bridget has been in office for 5 years?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    rcs1000 said:

    Of backing the invader?

    You must be so proud.
    The hard left in the U.K. has long followed the Comintern line - everything once part of Russian empire is the property of Russia.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    Ratters said:

    It's true what they say, the political spectrum is like a horseshoe... If you go too far left-wing, you end up reaching the head-up-Putin's-arse end of the political spectrum.
    Probably a fan of this rum blossom


  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551
    edited February 13

    Anyone watching Mussolini: Son of the Century? I thought it was too much of the zeitgeist not to watch so have done the first episode. Can’t decide if it’s genius or an expressionist/Futurist/modernist pastiche. Leon’s favourite old school Fascist warrior poet D’Annunzio plays quite a big part, green teeth and all.
    The intro has dead Mussolini talking to us over a montage of his ‘achievements’ concluding with his bloody death. He ends by asking ‘Now tell me, what was the point? Look around you…we’re still here’.

    Where/which/what platform is it on?

    Not too long ago I watched :

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072755/

    Caesar and Claretta

    "Robert Hardy and Helen Mirren star as Benito Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci in this dramatization of their last night together, locked in a small peasant cottage"

    It's very good, imho.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242
    Ratters said:

    It's true what they say, the political spectrum is like a horseshoe... If you go too far left-wing, you end up reaching the head-up-Putin's-arse end of the political spectrum.
    I still cannot get over a 'comedy' piece once which was trying to make fun of the horseshoe theory approach...by parroting the purported motivations of hard left vs hard right to show they were different after all and only idiots think they can end up similar. As if that makes a difference to practical realities beyond trivial matters.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863
    Nigelb said:

    Maybe you could go over there are ask him to get a room with you ?
    If you did you'd find he was too busy trying to take over the room next door.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,408
    The BBC website is still featuring two hostile stories about Rachel Reeves on the front page.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242

    The hard left in the U.K. has long followed the Comintern line - everything once part of Russian empire is the property of Russia.
    And fighting back is equally as morally wrong as being attacked without provocation.

    I actually did see that line pushed apparently as one with serious merit in a novel recently, and it really soured my enjoyment. The character with that belief was not shown to be totally right, eventually, but it was milquetoast 'they have a point' kind of thing.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,104
    ..
    ohnotnow said:

    Where/which/what platform is it on?

    Not too long ago I watched :

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072755/

    Caesar and Claretta
    Sky Atlantic.
    The actor playing Mussolini is excellent, helped by a physical resemblance but he really pulls off that weird combination of ridiculousness and sinister threat.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863
    kle4 said:

    That's fantastic news. How many tens of thousands of others are there?

    I know we're not expecting all schools to be free schools, but the point was that it is pretty hard, and 600 is a big achievement but still not all that many.
    kle4 said:

    That's fantastic news. How many tens of thousands of others are there?

    I know we're not expecting all schools to be free
    schools, but the point was that it is pretty hard, and 600 is a big achievement but still not all that many.
    Why is it (other than ideology) "fantastic news"?
    There is no evidence they are better.

    https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/free-schools-england/
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551

    The BBC website is still featuring two hostile stories about Rachel Reeves on the front page.

    I think it's tuned to the visitor. If I open it in a private/incognito window it's all Trump and Ukraine. Zero UK news at all.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242
    edited February 13
    dixiedean said:

    Why is it (other than ideology) "fantastic news"?
    There is no evidence they are better.

    https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/free-schools-england/
    I was simply accepting what I assumed was the premise that there are a lot and that is a good thing, but that it did not change that that presumed goodness cannot be scaled up to everyone.

    I actually have no idea whether they are better or not, as long as they are not inherently worse I have very little opinion on that.
  • ohnotnow said:

    I think it's tuned to the visitor. If I open it in a private/incognito window it's all Trump and Ukraine. Zero UK news at all.
    Are you on a VPN? In private browsing, I get all the Reeves stuff and UK news. If I turn on my VPN (even though it is set to UK) it gives me all the Trump stuff.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,408
    ohnotnow said:

    I think it's tuned to the visitor. If I open it in a private/incognito window it's all Trump and Ukraine. Zero UK news at all.
    Are you in the UK at the moment? I just tried in a private window and the featured stories were two about Trump and Ukraine, two about Rachel Reeves and one about the Hamas hostages.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    I guess free market conservatism is passed under Trump ?

    Among Republicans:

    Businesses should be held accountable if they're focused on being 'Woke': 49%

    Businesses should be able to operate however they like as long as they don't break the law: 44%

    Echelon / Feb 13, 2025 / n=1010

    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1890139701849493659
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,917

    First series of Westworld had a superb twist for the viewer - multiple timelines that presented as a single timeline. Great fun. But then after they felt a need to have another great idea. And once you leave the Park you have to build a whole world, and frankly the workd they built didn’t work.
    Sometimes having the guts to stop after the story is told is a virtue.
    I found out the other day that there was a fourth series. An apparent return to form, but nobody watched it.
  • Matt Goodwin cheerleading for Trump on BBC QT :lol:
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863

    Are you in the UK at the moment? I just tried in a private window and the featured stories were two about Trump and Ukraine, two about Rachel Reeves and one about the Hamas hostages.
    I initially skim read that as two about Rachel Reeves and the Hamas hostages.
    Nice to know you're not blaming her for everything.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863
    OT.
    But has anyone else seen the video of that kayaker in Chile swallowed by a whale?
    Kayaking? Bloody hell.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,005

    Matt Goodwin cheerleading for Trump on BBC QT :lol:

    Why am i not surprised
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited February 13
    viewcode said:

    I found out the other day that there was a fourth series. An apparent return to form, but nobody watched it.
    It was bloody awful. It has all become terminator-esque the robots are invincible and only they are fighting each other for their vision of the world...big hulk smash....none of the cleverness of the original series.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097

    Anyone watching Mussolini: Son of the Century? I thought it was too much of the zeitgeist not to watch so have done the first episode. Can’t decide if it’s genius or an expressionist/Futurist/modernist pastiche. Leon’s favourite old school Fascist warrior poet D’Annunzio plays quite a big part, green teeth and all.
    The intro has dead Mussolini talking to us over a montage of his ‘achievements’ concluding with his bloody death. He ends by asking ‘Now tell me, what was the point? Look around you…we’re still here’.

    There's also Jonathan Meades' programme about Mussolini from 2016.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0y_zmtquh8
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,414
    viewcode said:

    I found out the other day that there was a fourth series. An apparent return to form, but nobody watched it.
    Nah, it wasn’t that good. Did try to set up a future series, which I think would have been back to the beginning, but it was too late.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    kle4 said:

    I still cannot get over a 'comedy' piece once which was trying to make fun of the horseshoe theory approach...by parroting the purported motivations of hard left vs hard right to show they were different after all and only idiots think they can end up similar. As if that makes a difference to practical realities beyond trivial matters.
    When they are shooting you in the back of the head and kicking your body into the pile in the trench, does the logo on the arm bands matter?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,005

    Matt Goodwin cheerleading for Trump on BBC QT :lol:

    Lawyer on QT just said she cannot get a job. There's no jobs for lawyers. Done an MSc and LPC.

    Eh??

    @TSE ??
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242

    When they are shooting you in the back of the head and kicking your body into the pile in the trench, does the logo on the arm bands matter?
    Yes, comrade.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    kle4 said:

    Yes, comrade.
    {bang}
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097
    edited February 13

    California's $2.2 billion dollar bird-killing solar plant to close

    https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/climate/ivanpah-desert-solar-closing/index.html

    I remember seeing a film about one of these that was built in the late 70s / early 80s. Wonder what happened to that one.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551

    Lawyer on QT just said she cannot get a job. There's no jobs for lawyers. Done an MSc and LPC.

    Eh??

    @TSE ??
    Law is outside my field, but currently for junior posts we're locally seeing about 50 Masters students applying for every junior post.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,780
    kle4 said:

    I was simply accepting what I assumed was the premise that there are a lot and that is a good thing, but that it did not change that that presumed goodness cannot be scaled up to everyone.

    I actually have no idea whether they are better or not, as long as they are not inherently worse I have very little opinion on that.
    One comedy stat that gets pulled out is that they are “less diverse”

    The way some measure diversity in schools is the number who get free school meals.

    So a school that attracts the middle class back to state schools, away from the private sector will, by this definition, be less diverse.

    Despite having a more disparate body of students.

  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551
    Andy_JS said:

    I remember seeing a film about one of these that was built in the late 70s / early 80s. Wonder what happened to that one.
    It ended fine. No need to worry.

    image
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974
    Andy_JS said:

    I remember seeing a film about one of these that was built in the late 70s / early 80s. Wonder what happened to that one.
    Concentrating solar thermal plants lose the single biggest advantage of solar: low maintenance costs.

    All that expansion and contraction means you are constantly fixing things.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,146
    Lib dem hold in Stevenage.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551

    Are you in the UK at the moment? I just tried in a private window and the featured stories were two about Trump and Ukraine, two about Rachel Reeves and one about the Hamas hostages.
    Yup - in the UK. Homepage currently looks like this :


  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,917
    Anne Applebaum on you already know what.

    https://archive.is/m3ba1
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,509
    Varoufakis claims to understand what Trump is doing:

    https://unherd.com/2025/02/why-trumps-tariffs-are-a-masterplan/
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242
    viewcode said:

    Anne Applebaum on you already know what.

    https://archive.is/m3ba1

    Although they do say they want efficiency, Musk has made no attempt to professionally audit or even understand many of the programs being cut. Although they say they want to cut costs, the programs they are attacking represent a tiny fraction of the U.S. budget. The only thing these policies will certainly do, and are clearly designed to do, is alter the behavior and values of the civil service
  • ohnotnow said:

    Yup - in the UK. Homepage currently looks like this :


    I'm in the UK, and it looks like this:


  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,917

    California's $2.2 billion dollar bird-killing solar plant to close

    https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/climate/ivanpah-desert-solar-closing/index.html

    It's in the title sequence of Blade Runner 2049

  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,408
    ohnotnow said:

    Yup - in the UK. Homepage currently looks like this :


    This is what it looks like for me:

    image
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863
    slade said:

    Lib dem hold in Stevenage.

    Something to cherish as Armageddon draws near.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242
    viewcode said:

    It's in the title sequence of Blade Runner 2049

    It's Helios One from Fallout New Vegas!
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,005
    Liberal on QT supports increased defence spending.

    Let's hope they keep that view when the next budget comes to the House
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,796
    .

    Zelensky fans 😃

    You are now irrelevant.

    It doesn't help Ukraine of course but it does allow us easily to sort people into two categories: Zelensky fans and utter shits.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551

    This is what it looks like for me:

    image
    I'm glad our future LLM overlords aren't learning from this. Otherwise they might get quite confused.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,551
    viewcode said:

    It's in the title sequence of Blade Runner 2049

    Blade Runner 2099 is apparently in the can. And Apple are finalising the casting for their Neuromancer adaptation.

    How bad can this all be? For arguments sake, let's pretend none of us has seen Foundation.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974
    edited February 13
    carnforth said:

    Varoufakis claims to understand what Trump is doing:

    https://unherd.com/2025/02/why-trumps-tariffs-are-a-masterplan/

    There's a kernel of truth in there: the Dollar's dominance disadvantages American manufacturers.

    The problem is that the more you upset the apple cart, the more the US Dollar becomes the safe haven currency, which further disadvantages your own manufacturers.

    The idea, however, that the current tariffs are a stroke of genius demonstrates how detached from reality Varafoukis continues to be. If you want to advantage US manufacturing you would want to reduce tariffs on intermediate goods, and increase them on final ones: i.e., you'd make it "free" to import steel and aluminium, and "expensive" to import cars. Otherwise, all you'll do is drive auto making outside the US and to places which don't face tariffs.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789

    Why am i not surprised
    Historically, American presidents have taken the view that Russia doesn't have a veto over an alliance of which isn't a member. Not this one.
    https://x.com/ruth_deyermond/status/1890165583200809041

    Trump is apparently in thrall to Putin.

    For the leader of a country massively more powerful than is Russia, that’s just weird. Weakest US President ever - though paradoxically, he’ll wreak more damage in the world than almost all of them.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,146
    Ref gain in Torfaen.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,408
    slade said:

    Ref gain in Torfaen.

    Landslide:

    ➡️ RFM: 47.0%
    🌹 LAB: 26.6%
    👤 IND: 12.0%
    👤 IND: 11.7%
    🌍 GRN: 2.6%
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097

    Landslide:

    ➡️ RFM: 47.0%
    🌹 LAB: 26.6%
    👤 IND: 12.0%
    👤 IND: 11.7%
    🌍 GRN: 2.6%
    A recent MRP poll showed Reform winning nearly every seat in Wales IIRC, apart from the Cardiff divisions.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,146
    Lab hold in Barnet.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,005
    Nigelb said:

    Historically, American presidents have taken the view that Russia doesn't have a veto over an alliance of which isn't a member. Not this one.
    https://x.com/ruth_deyermond/status/1890165583200809041

    Trump is apparently in thrall to Putin.

    For the leader of a country massively more powerful than is Russia, that’s just weird. Weakest US President ever - though paradoxically, he’ll wreak more damage in the world than almost all of them.
    One can only hope that history will eventually find out why Trump is so enthralled and fawning over Putin.

    Could it be as simple as a single photograph from a Moscow hotel room?

    Or is it genuine homo love?

    The desperation of the white faced, thin ginger haired kid in school who couldn't fight in Vietnam because...erm... he has dodgy feet whilst Vlad is busy in the KGB wanting to be mates with the hard guy??
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,863

    One can only hope that history will eventually find out why Trump is so enthralled and fawning over Putin.

    Could it be as simple as a single photograph from a Moscow hotel room?

    Or is it genuine homo love?

    The desperation of the white faced, thin ginger haired kid in school who couldn't fight in Vietnam because...erm... he has dodgy feet whilst Vlad is busy in the KGB wanting to be mates with the hard guy??
    Or. He's got Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097
    slade said:

    Lab hold in Barnet.

    Barnet, Burnt Oak

    Lab 1064
    Con 501
    RefUK 434
    Green 202
    LD 93
    Rejoin 68

    Lab hold


    Lab 45.0%
    Con 21.2%
    RefUK 18.4%
    Green 8.6%
    LD 3.9%
    Rejoin 2.9%
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,917

    Landslide:

    ➡️ RFM: 47.0%
    🌹 LAB: 26.6%
    👤 IND: 12.0%
    👤 IND: 11.7%
    🌍 GRN: 2.6%
    It's one ward (not the whole of Torfaen) and no Conservative candidate stood.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,104

    One can only hope that history will eventually find out why Trump is so enthralled and fawning over Putin.

    Could it be as simple as a single photograph from a Moscow hotel room?

    Or is it genuine homo love?

    The desperation of the white faced, thin ginger haired kid in school who couldn't fight in Vietnam because...erm... he has dodgy feet whilst Vlad is busy in the KGB wanting to be mates with the hard guy??
    The longer Trump has done his thing the less I believe the kompromat thing. This is a man who shrugged off paying off a pornstar and a conviction for sexual assault, and simulated a blow job on a microphone at a rally; he’s a stranger to shame. If a photo came out of him being peed on he’d just call it fake or say so what.

    All I can think is he sees a very select club of men who hold absolute power and considers them his equals.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097
    New Techne poll.

    Lab 26% (+1)
    RefUK 25% (nc)
    Con 22% (-1)
    LD 12% (-1)
    Grn 8% (+1)

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/kemi-badenoch-poll-drop-steve-gibson-b2697632.html
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,444
    Nigelb said:

    Historically, American presidents have taken the view that Russia doesn't have a veto over an alliance of which isn't a member. Not this one.
    https://x.com/ruth_deyermond/status/1890165583200809041

    Trump is apparently in thrall to Putin.

    For the leader of a country massively more powerful than is Russia, that’s just weird. Weakest US President ever - though paradoxically, he’ll wreak more damage in the world than almost all of them.
    It's the weakness of a Presidential system that so much depends on the personality of the President, as he is unconstrained in the way a Prime Minister is by the legislature, the Cabinet, and in our case by the Monarch. Americans basically set up a head of state with the powers of an 18th century monarch, made him elected and haven't changed it much in 200 years.

    But a Presidential system naturally bends towards despotism. And because they are so extraordinarily chauvinistic and insular, it never occurs to Americans that maybe their system isn't the right one.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited February 14

    The longer Trump has done his thing the less I believe the kompromat thing. This is a man who shrugged off paying off a pornstar and a conviction for sexual assault, and simulated a blow job on a microphone at a rally; he’s a stranger to shame. If a photo came out of him being peed on he’d just call it fake or say so what.

    All I can think is he sees a very select club of men who hold absolute power and considers them his equals.
    Another aspect is people have come out and accused him of a wide range of things, but none of it is kinky. So they even if they had him on tape shagging, its a bit like finding out Russell Brand shagged loads of women back in the day.

    I think its just much simpler as you say he likes blokes who he sees as strong men and tell him he is also one.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,631
    eek said:

    When did Hell freeze over?

    And even if the courts did something it would be appealed or more likely simply ignored
    Hell being a town in norway is frozen over 4 months of the year
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,097
    Scott_xP said:

    @NormEisen

    BREAKING: We are suing Musk & DOGE for violating the constitution

    They have no right to your personal data & no authority to dismantle entire agencies

    We’re calling their bluff & taking them to court

    https://x.com/NormEisen/status/1890099204288311420

    The government has every right to dismantle government agencies.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited February 14
    Andy_JS said:

    The government has every right to dismantle government agencies.
    DOGE aren't doing any of the actual actioning, they take their finding to WH for them to order changes. However, there are legal arguments about certain funding and departments having been created by act of congress and can the president ignore those acts / reverse them without going back to congress.

    Apparently there is only one real previous case law which was under Nixon where he told the head of a department not to spend all the money assigned by an act of congress. He eventually lost in court. But there were subtle parts to the case that might not apply in all scenerios.

    Previous presidents have done similar things but normally its shaving around the edges and they have been allowed to do so.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,975

    Lawyer on QT just said she cannot get a job. There's no jobs for lawyers. Done an MSc and LPC.

    Eh??

    @TSE ??
    The legal job market in London especially is brutal at the moment, but it depends what practice area. My area, construction, still seems to be in demand.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,975
    Andy_JS said:

    The government has every right to dismantle government agencies.
    Not if they have been created by law that the executive does not have the power to arbitrarily dismantle. Does the rule of law mean nothing anymore?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,242

    Not if they have been created by law that the executive does not have the power to arbitrarily dismantle. Does the rule of law mean nothing anymore?
    Ahahahahahahahaha.

    Good one.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited February 14
    All we really know from the polling is that all the parties are about as popular as Millwall fans on an away day.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,005

    The legal job market in London especially is brutal at the moment, but it depends what practice area. My area, construction, still seems to be in demand.
    Thanks. Just seems crazy to me = lawyers who cannot get jobs??
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974
    Andy_JS said:

    The government has every right to dismantle government agencies.
    That's not true.

    If the House of Congress pass a law calling for the creation of an army, and then allocate funding for $1bn for the army, the President can't choose to dismantle the army and spend $1bn on statues of himself.

    It's called Checks and Balances, and the US is setup so the Presidency -in theory- is the weakest of the three branches of government.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,377
    Afternoon all and another glorious day in Hawke’s Bay :)

    Plenty of flapping about in Napier at the start of Art Deco Festival weekend but more locally we’ve had the Shake, Rattle & Roll lunch, not as I suspected a homage to mods and rockers but related to the 1931 earthquake and while anyone can attend it’s ostensibly for the descendants of the survivors.

    What those who endured the earthquake itself would make of the world today is anyone’s guess.

    I posed the question of where Britain could find an additional £60 billion to fund defence to bring it closer to 5% of GDP and needless to say the ill informed “slash and burn the public sector” brigade were out in force. This is dangerous for Reform, torn as it is between its quasi-Thatcherite leadership and its culturally conservative quasi-socialist voters.

    I need to be convinced this £60 billion is a) necessary, b) affordable and c) will we get value for our investment? If anything, defence has proved as much a bottomless pit as health over the decades. I think we’re being bounced by politicians close to the defence industries and a bit of media scaremongering. Having Russia as “the threat” worked once but we now know the Warsaw Pact was largely a paper tiger though we convinced ourselves they were a force of supermen who would be at the Rhine in 72 hours and Paris in a week.

    That’s NOT to say there isn’t an argument for spending in some areas such as cyber warfare and drones but the nature of war is changing and we need to urgently understand and learn what is really needed on the 21st century battlefield and the shape of that battlefield.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,377
    The hapless ACT leader, David Seymour, has blundered his way back into the news. After his stunt trying to drive a Land Rover up the steps of Parliament, his actions as Schools Minister have now come back to bite him.

    He outsourced the provision of all meals in New Zealand schools to Compass with the contract starting at the beginning of the current school year which over here was last Monday.

    As part of the new start, there was supposed to be a pie for every child yesterday (kiwis love their pies - I’ve found a nearby bakery which does a stunning beef and cheese, don’t laugh). Unfortunately, as Jimmy Perrin (Reggie’s brother) famously opined there was “a bit of a cock up on the catering front”. Amongst the disasters were the wrong pies sent to schools and Halal pies not properly certified.

    Seymour is facing calls to apologise which he’s not good at. At Waitangi last week, they turned off his microphone and a group of Māori women turned their backs on him as he sought to defend the Treaty Principles Bill which won’t get through Parliament as Luxon has ordered National MPs to vote it down at the Third Reading.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,568
    rcs1000 said:

    There's a kernel of truth in there: the Dollar's dominance disadvantages American manufacturers.

    The problem is that the more you upset the apple cart, the more the US Dollar becomes the safe haven currency, which further disadvantages your own manufacturers.

    The idea, however, that the current tariffs are a stroke of genius demonstrates how detached from reality Varafoukis continues to be. If you want to advantage US manufacturing you would want to reduce tariffs on intermediate goods, and increase them on final ones: i.e., you'd make it "free" to import steel and aluminium, and "expensive" to import cars. Otherwise, all you'll do is drive auto making outside the US and to places which don't face tariffs.
    Did I mishear the radio earlier?

    It sounded like Trump is objective to Europe applying VAT to US imports.

    But then he’s probably never paid sales tax…
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,974

    Did I mishear the radio earlier?

    It sounded like Trump is objective to Europe applying VAT to US imports.

    But then he’s probably never paid sales tax…
    He seems to believe that VAT is only paid on imports rather than on everything that is sold.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    rcs1000 said:

    That's not true.

    If the House of Congress pass a law calling for the creation of an army, and then allocate funding for $1bn for the army, the President can't choose to dismantle the army and spend $1bn on statues of himself.

    It's called Checks and Balances, and the US is setup so the Presidency -in theory- is the weakest of the three branches of government.
    “The government" does have every right.
    But "the government" includes Congress.
    To overturn a law, they must legislate.

    The President can't just overturn laws that have been passed. That's not changed by the absurd Supreme Court immunity decision - which is in strong contention for the worst decision in the history of the Constitution.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789

    Did I mishear the radio earlier?

    It sounded like Trump is objective to Europe applying VAT to US imports.

    But then he’s probably never paid sales tax…
    He want US exports to be exempt from VAT.

    The man is a dangerous idiot.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    Andy_JS said:

    The government has every right to dismantle government agencies.
    The President is not the government; merely part of it.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,058
    rcs1000 said:

    That's not true.

    If the House of Congress pass a law calling for the creation of an army, and then allocate funding for $1bn for the army, the President can't choose to dismantle the army and spend $1bn on statues of himself.

    It's called Checks and Balances, and the US is setup so the Presidency -in theory- is the weakest of the three branches of government.
    Marbury v Madison established the principle of changing that balance if one element has enough presence to do so. The power of the courts in the US is preposterous
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    rcs1000 said:

    He seems to believe that VAT is only paid on imports rather than on everything that is sold.
    If he really understood VAT, he's probably have been into carousel fraud years ago.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    Macmillan Cancer Support cuts quarter of staff and scraps hardship scheme
    Exclusive: Charity says it has made drastic changes to safeguard future as Guardian finds it spent £100m more than it raised over last six years
    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/13/macmillan-cancer-support-cuts-quarter-of-staff-and-scraps-hardship-scheme
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 22,100
    Munich! Really?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,789
    Jonathan said:

    Munich! Really?

    Trump is in a rush to sell us out.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,046

    Most children go to their parents' first choice of schools. You can take your children out of school any time you want and enroll them in another school if it has space. And most English secondary schools are already Academies and therefore not run by the local authority. Sure, get rid of the DofE and OFSTED but then who would oversee the money spent on Academies, and how would parents have any idea which schools are good?
    Just out of interest, do you have much experience of the state school system?
    1) The DfE don’t do that now - look at the disaster engulfing schools in Stoke due to appalling financial oversight which would have been avoided had central government actually been vaguely competent;

    2) Yes, you are right about the need for inspection for quality control, but again, OFSTED lied to a coroner to conceal the fact they had falsified a report on the orders of an organisation they are legally obliged to ignore. How can we believe anything they write in a report after that (and unfortunately that applies even though most reports are probably fairly accurate in terms of assessing schools against that stupid criteria Spielman invented)?
This discussion has been closed.