Is inflation the key metric for winning the general election? – politicalbetting.com
Comments
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I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.12 -
Why, he’s a Kazakh, or a racial stereotype of one.Sunil_Prasannan said:
Borat would be appalled!Leon said:Am now on the Tashkent Tube (famous for its elaborate stations - the cosmonaut one is genuinely impressive)
Kids here wear tee shirts emblazoned with “Russia” and the Russian flag. So Russia is cool in Uzbekistan
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We already have. But thanks.MarqueeMark said:
They should certainly do a swap. Saudis get the oldest Quran, to exhibit at Mecca.OldKingCole said:
I've googled it too. Definitely unexpected.Leon said:
No. Even weirderStillWaters said:
In the museum that the Green family built? DC?Leon said:They just took us to see the “world’s oldest Koran” which is kept here in Tashkent having been brought here circuitously by various tyrants, Tamerlaines and tsars
However I grew suspicious. Is this really the oldest Koran in the world? I checked. It isn’t. The real location of the oldest piece of any known Koran is actually a mild mind boggler
Without googling does any PBer know? It’s a good pub quiz question
Birminghm City get a couple of decent strikers...0 -
It is quite odd and disconcerting to me. The Times had always been soft right for as long as I'd known it. Youtube agorithm flicked on Times Radio the other day and the interviewer (about Reeves' budget) kept making these odd pseudo-left comments about 'welfare cuts' being the issue of the day. Turned out it was a horrifically aged Hugo Rifkind.Taz said:
Comcast bought them from Rupe.Andy_JS said:How did British Sky News become more left-wing than the BBC? One of life's great mysteries.
0 -
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.5 -
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.5 -
Well, this could be fun if true. Especially as his wife equates being gay with bestiality and incest...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6wA5E_zEaE&list=TLPQMjkwMzIwMjWulUlf0RXsTA&index=30 -
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
1 -
True, but if you actually watch the Borat sketches/movie, he routinely lampoons Uzbekistan.Taz said:
Why, he’s a Kazakh, or a racial stereotype of one.Sunil_Prasannan said:
Borat would be appalled!Leon said:Am now on the Tashkent Tube (famous for its elaborate stations - the cosmonaut one is genuinely impressive)
Kids here wear tee shirts emblazoned with “Russia” and the Russian flag. So Russia is cool in Uzbekistan
Here is Borat's version of the Kazakh nation anthem:
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, you very nice place
From plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan
They very nosey people, with bone in their brain
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Andrew Neil is always interesting on Times Radio. I’ve heard Hugo Rifkind a few times. He has little to offer.Luckyguy1983 said:
It is quite odd and disconcerting to me. The Times had always been soft right for as long as I'd known it. Youtube agorithm flicked on Times Radio the other day and the interviewer (about Reeves' budget) kept making these odd pseudo-left comments about 'welfare cuts' being the issue of the day. Turned out it was a horrifically aged Hugo Rifkind.Taz said:
Comcast bought them from Rupe.Andy_JS said:How did British Sky News become more left-wing than the BBC? One of life's great mysteries.
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Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
0 -
Quarters or eighths?ydoethur said:
That is actually disgusting.TheScreamingEagles said:Can somebody please check on Ydoethur.
’An insult’: Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief at time of Ruth Perry’s suicide, to be given a peerage
The nomination by Conservatives of the former chief inspector of schools has been met with outrage by the headteacher’s family, and called ‘obscene’ by school leaders
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/mar/29/ofsted-chief-amanda-spielman-peerage-lords-ruth-perry
Whoever came up with that needs to be sectioned.1 -
Exactly. That’s how it works. And if the existing shareholders lose out then so be itLuckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.1 -
One incontrovertible argument against the kind of industry capture the unions have been pushing for with OFSTED is that it leads to disasters like this.Taz said:
21% here. Scrounging Motherfuckers.SonofContrarian said:
Sounds like about average..💩rottenborough said:Just had my water bill.
Huge increase.
I reckon 17%.
WTF?
The recent deal agreed with the regulator, who regulates on the side of the water industry not the consumers, was front loaded. So a big increase year 1 and small increases after that although as it compounds it works against the consumer.
I mean, I say many things about OFSTED but I would never accuse it of being a servant of the teaching profession.* Nor should it be. It doesn't need to be as aggressive as it is but everyone makes mistakes and sometimes you have to say it as it is.
Neither OFWAT or OFGEM appear to be willing to, which is why our utilities are such a disaster.
*If you asked me about the DfE that would be a different matter...1 -
Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.0 -
Eid, for lack of a better word, is good?TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.2 -
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ2 -
I'd never heard that about Mrs Vance, but I see that isn't who you meant.MarqueeMark said:Well, this could be fun if true. Especially as his wife equates being gay with bestiality and incest...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6wA5E_zEaE&list=TLPQMjkwMzIwMjWulUlf0RXsTA&index=30 -
...
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They don't choose. They are using rate of change as a weapon to exploit the strat-up delay of checks and balances.StillWaters said:
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
"Thank-you for saying we should not have closed it. Unfortunately it is gone already."
It's like pruning your gooseberries and strawberries with Elon's chainsaw.0 -
Yes - but I still want the water and sewerage to work!Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.0 -
This is oceangoing copper bottomed bellendery.Luckyguy1983 said:
Happily, I have no idea what a 'sub-thread' is, but in a conversation, themes move on, and since neither Fishing's comment nor my response to his comment mentioned DOGE, the assumption that I was 'making excuses' for DOGE was a lazy and sloppy one.Foxy said:
It's CDC cuts where this sub-thread started. You need to work on your reading and comprehension.Luckyguy1983 said:
I wasn't saying anything about DOGE, I was responding to Fishing's point. You need to work on your reading and comprehension.Foxy said:
Except it is DOGE that is choosing what to cut.Luckyguy1983 said:
Those being asked to make the cuts have a vested interest in making the cuts as painful and publicity-seeking as possible. There is probably a better way to incentivise low-cost administration (bonuses offered as a percentage of cost efficiencies?).Fishing said:
That's the trouble with half-baked cuts to government services in the name of "efficiency".MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
They have an uncanny ability to target the expenditure worth saving, while, being designed by management, things really worth cutting, like the managers themselves and their perks, generally escape unscathed.
You need to work on your excuses.1 -
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.2 -
That's slightly unfair.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
It wasn't the only job they had, and completely failed in.0 -
"Malicious compliance" is the catch all spin for the MAGA crowd. From whom William is slowly becoming indistinguishable.Foxy said:
Wasn't if DOGE that pulled the plug on these grants, rather than an "unwilling bureaucracy"?williamglenn said:
Malicious compliance by an unwilling bureaucracy.Fishing said:
That's the trouble with half-baked cuts to government services in the name of "efficiency".MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
They have an uncanny ability to target the expenditure worth saving, while, being designed by management, things really worth cutting, like the managers themselves and their perks, generally escape unscathed.1 -
Our supplier round here is Essex und Suffolk, but the sewerage is apparently Thames Water's job!Barnesian said:
Yes - but I still want the water and sewerage to work!Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.0 -
(With your name, do you have to declare an interest in this subject? Just to be clear, I am not calling for you to be nationalised - or even made bankrupt!)StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.0 -
We're about 25 miles N of you, I think. Closer to Suffolk, but our supplier is Anglia Water.Sunil_Prasannan said:
Our supplier round here is Essex und Suffolk, but the sewerage is apparently Thames Water's job!Barnesian said:
Yes - but I still want the water and sewerage to work!Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
Odd.0 -
StillNoIdea could be done, but then we'd make accusations of leglessness.AugustusCarp2 said:
(With your name, do you have to declare an interest in this subject? Just to be clear, I am not calling for you to be nationalised - or even made bankrupt!)StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.0 -
Interesting that both Vance and Orr's religious conversion stories reek of intellectual snobbery and seem to be boasts of successful attempts at cosplaying St Augustine (Hippo not Canterbury).MattW said:
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ
0 -
The bill payer is the one in the hook for it.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
If we're going to rebuild these companies balance sheets at our expense, then we should own them.
That doesn't apply to all of them, but it certainly applies to Thames.2 -
Here in Edinburgh we make do with 9.9% for our publicly owned utility.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.1 -
AFAIKS, the sole reason he was pardoned is that he's given money to Trump.
Who is Trevor Milton, the startup founder and donor pardoned by Trump
https://thehill.com/business/5221471-who-is-trevor-milton-nikola-pardon/
1 -
Doesn't the Government still own a "Golden Share" in these companies? I remember back in the 1980s, when the water companies were being sold off, that the Golden Shares were all the reassurance the public needed to know that the companies were going to be reun responsibly.Nigelb said:
The bill payer is the one in the hook for it.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
If we're going to rebuild these companies balance sheets at our expense, then we should own them.
That doesn't apply to all of them, but it certainly applies to Thames.1 -
Just think how happy your mother will be, you good little muslim boy!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.2 -
Tweed Mubarak!Fairliered said:
Just think how happy your mother will be, you good little muslim boy!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.0 -
Do you not get to eat lots? That should sugar the pill. Eid Mubarak!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.0 -
Cancelled in 1995.AugustusCarp2 said:
Doesn't the Government still own a "Golden Share" in these companies? I remember back in the 1980s, when the water companies were being sold off, that the Golden Shares were all the reassurance the public needed to know that the companies were going to be reun responsibly.Nigelb said:
The bill payer is the one in the hook for it.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
If we're going to rebuild these companies balance sheets at our expense, then we should own them.
That doesn't apply to all of them, but it certainly applies to Thames.0 -
Thanks! I should have guessed.Nigelb said:
Cancelled in 1995.AugustusCarp2 said:
Doesn't the Government still own a "Golden Share" in these companies? I remember back in the 1980s, when the water companies were being sold off, that the Golden Shares were all the reassurance the public needed to know that the companies were going to be reun responsibly.Nigelb said:
The bill payer is the one in the hook for it.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
If we're going to rebuild these companies balance sheets at our expense, then we should own them.
That doesn't apply to all of them, but it certainly applies to Thames.0 -
I had a really nice chat today with a lovely lady on my route
We've had a few brief chats before, but since I last saw her a couple of months ago I noticed on one of her letters that she has a CBE
I looked her up and found she was awarded it for services to health care. She had a long career in the NHS, and after retirement (which she told me today was forced on her by a reorganisation) she had a few other positions including working with the Red Cross in Moscow
She's big into wine; I delivered her a bottle from Hard To Find Wines last week (a NZ pinot noir from a vineyard called, I think, Remarkables, that she and her husband visited 30 years ago when it had first opened)
AND she's big into walking. She's going away on a walking holiday for a week in a fortnight. And the reason she bought the house in Ogbourne is because she walked past it on a Ridgeway walk many years ago
She's a soul mate from a different generation6 -
It's government spending.StillWaters said:
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
There's no cost benefit analysis, just a belief that government spending is wrong.2 -
Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
0 -
So what were you actually referring to? please give some specific examplesLuckyguy1983 said:
Happily, I have no idea what a 'sub-thread' is, but in a conversation, themes move on, and since neither Fishing's comment nor my response to his comment mentioned DOGE, the assumption that I was 'making excuses' for DOGE was a lazy and sloppy one.Foxy said:
It's CDC cuts where this sub-thread started. You need to work on your reading and comprehension.Luckyguy1983 said:
I wasn't saying anything about DOGE, I was responding to Fishing's point. You need to work on your reading and comprehension.Foxy said:
Except it is DOGE that is choosing what to cut.Luckyguy1983 said:
Those being asked to make the cuts have a vested interest in making the cuts as painful and publicity-seeking as possible. There is probably a better way to incentivise low-cost administration (bonuses offered as a percentage of cost efficiencies?).Fishing said:
That's the trouble with half-baked cuts to government services in the name of "efficiency".MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
They have an uncanny ability to target the expenditure worth saving, while, being designed by management, things really worth cutting, like the managers themselves and their perks, generally escape unscathed.
You need to work on your excuses.
Btw the context here was the cuts being made by DOGE. If you are changing to some completely different context it would help other people's comprehension if you gave a clue which context you are changing the conversation to.0 -
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
9 -
My problem is that I will have to go to a party tomorrow which means my mother's friends will try and marry me off, and boy do they use the guilt trips.Fairliered said:
Just think how happy your mother will be, you good little muslim boy!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
As far as they know I am single which makes things awkward.2 -
We do it too:rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/5/10/uk-government-revokes-visa-of-palestinian-student1 -
Can recommend Canada.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
4 -
A friend of mine got married, then ten years later got divorced, all without her parents knowing.TheScreamingEagles said:
My problem is that I will have to go to a party tomorrow which means my mother's friends will try and marry me off, and boy do they use the guilt trips.Fairliered said:
Just think how happy your mother will be, you good little muslim boy!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
As far as they know I am single which makes things awkward.
Admittedly she was out of the country, but still...1 -
‘Lives Are In Danger’ After a Trump Admin Spreadsheet Leak, Sources Say
Trump’s State Department was supposed to keep sensitive information about foreign grants private, despite Musk’s meddling. It all leaked
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-leak-danger-spreadsheet-state-department-usaid-1235306394/0 -
It wasn't just the Tories.AugustusCarp2 said:
Thanks! I should have guessed.Nigelb said:
Cancelled in 1995.AugustusCarp2 said:
Doesn't the Government still own a "Golden Share" in these companies? I remember back in the 1980s, when the water companies were being sold off, that the Golden Shares were all the reassurance the public needed to know that the companies were going to be reun responsibly.Nigelb said:
The bill payer is the one in the hook for it.Phil said:
Fairly sure that there’s legislation the government can use to take over Thames Water as a going concern for exactly this reason.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
They don’t want to use it because then the government would be on the hook for the decades long backlog of investment that the water & sewerage system in this country needs - one that was allowed to build up by the regulator who completely failed in their one job.
If we're going to rebuild these companies balance sheets at our expense, then we should own them.
That doesn't apply to all of them, but it certainly applies to Thames.
Regulation got laxer still under Labour.
They granted 25yr operating licenses when they renewed them - on the grounds it would make borrowing cheaper and planning easier - and outfits like Macquarie used that to raid them for every penny they could.
And so now we are where we are.0 -
Don't blame you. It is all incredibly serious and incredibly sad.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
6 -
Prayers in Newham's parks tomorrow for the faithful - segregated areas for men and women of course and the local eateries are trying to outdo each other in preparation for the Eid-al-Fitr tomorrow. Our local Bims burgers has been running from 5pm to 2am throughout Ramadan.TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.0 -
Saying she is "full of joy" at Oct 7 is close to glorifying terrorism, which is a criminal offence.carnforth said:
We do it too:rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/5/10/uk-government-revokes-visa-of-palestinian-student
(Personally I think that it should not be a crime, and should be regarded as legitimate freedom of speech. Terrorism is in the eye of the beholder, and in any case is sometimes justified. For example, if a Ukrainian burned down the Russian Embassy in London and all within, I'd be fairly happy)1 -
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
0 -
I cancelled my trip to the Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.5 -
Totally.TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.2 -
I’m just a fan of peace and tranquillityAugustusCarp2 said:
(With your name, do you have to declare an interest in this subject? Just to be clear, I am not calling for you to be nationalised - or even made bankrupt!)StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
2 -
That should be published tomorrow assuming the Ayrshire hotelier doesn't do something batshit crazy.viewcode said:
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.2 -
No harm in a little window shopping...TheScreamingEagles said:
My problem is that I will have to go to a party tomorrow which means my mother's friends will try and marry me off, and boy do they use the guilt trips.Fairliered said:
Just think how happy your mother will be, you good little muslim boy!TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
As far as they know I am single which makes things awkward.0 -
Don’t think I would be buying shares in transatlantic airlines ATM.rottenborough said:
Totally.TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.1 -
Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?0
-
Fixed it for you!TheScreamingEagles said:
That should be published tomorrow assuming the Ayrshire hotelier doesn't do something else batshit crazy.viewcode said:
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.2 -
When you look like me and are a Muslim plus my criticisms of Donald Trump I am so ending up in an El Salvador prison the moment my feet touch American soil.rottenborough said:
Totally.TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.9 -
But it’s data! At someone else’s expense! Sure Musk understands that!rcs1000 said:
It's government spending.StillWaters said:
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
There's no cost benefit analysis, just a belief that government spending is wrong.0 -
Yes, you absolute melt.williamglenn said:Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?
Your spinning for the evils of Trump makes you an absolute bellend.
Sorry to be so brutal but that's the truth.9 -
50/50 chance then...TheScreamingEagles said:
That should be published tomorrow assuming the Ayrshire hotelier doesn't do something batshit crazy.viewcode said:
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
(thank you, btw. Most pleased.)2 -
I'm glad to see you're optimistic about Trump's insanity.viewcode said:
50/50 chance then...TheScreamingEagles said:
That should be published tomorrow assuming the Ayrshire hotelier doesn't do something batshit crazy.viewcode said:
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
(thank you, btw. Most pleased.)
Me, I'd go for odds of 99-1.1 -
Technically, it should be the administrators rather than the receivers, surely? Because you want the business to continue to run, largely unmolested, while the debts are restructured.AugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.0 -
Ah yes. Lovely.carnforth said:
We do it too:rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/5/10/uk-government-revokes-visa-of-palestinian-student
She claims that her comment “we were full of joy at what happened [on October 7]” was ‘misconstrued’
I’m not sure how else it could have been construed?2 -
Thanks. Agree. I found him a bit sinister and a bit trahison de clercish. Apparently Vance is some sort of mate of Orr's, so perhaps he could be allowed a bit of slack for his friend, but the issues here are serious. We heard about the Vance who has some hard convictions, all of which taken on their own are defensible if you are a student of Hobbes and a rather silly Roman Catholic convert, but nothing about the Vance who is complicit in the formation of a police state and VP to a gargantuan liar and narcissist.MattW said:
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ2 -
"Yet more FAKE NEWS from the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS!!!"ydoethur said:
I'm glad to see you're optimistic about Trump's insanity.viewcode said:
50/50 chance then...TheScreamingEagles said:
That should be published tomorrow assuming the Ayrshire hotelier doesn't do something batshit crazy.viewcode said:
Perhaps you could publish an interesting and well-researched article to occupy PBers as you go about your religious duties. Just sayin'TheScreamingEagles said:Tomorrow is Eid, so I cannot use work as excuse for not going to the mosque tomorrow.
Thoughts and prayers for me please.
(thank you, btw. Most pleased.)
Me, I'd go for odds of 99-1.0 -
Is it data Musk can monetise? If not, it's not useful data.StillWaters said:
But it’s data! At someone else’s expense! Sure Musk understands that!rcs1000 said:
It's government spending.StillWaters said:
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
There's no cost benefit analysis, just a belief that government spending is wrong.
But ultimately, it doesn't really matter. It's the same dynamic that caused the iconoclasts to decapitate all the statues in Ely cathedral.0 -
It would. Someone would get the franchise with none of the debt of Thames Water.Barnesian said:
Yes - but I still want the water and sewerage to work!Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.2 -
A good boy like you would have been totally out of place with all those strippers and all that gambling anyway...TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.0 -
Much of what gets attributed to "the evils of Trump" is just how the US has always been. Border enforcement has always been a minefield.TheScreamingEagles said:
Yes, you absolute melt.williamglenn said:Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?
Your spinning for the evils of Trump makes you an absolute bellend.
Sorry to be so brutal but that's the truth.0 -
Even if Thames Water isn't fully nationalised - and to be blunt it should be - it is surely high time and long overdue that the government looked at the sort of debt for equity swap they did with RBS and HBOS.
This is just ridiculous.3 -
The loss of our holiday and @TSE's trip is insignificant but mony a mickle maks a muckle as they say just north of here.GIN1138 said:
A good boy like you would have been totally out of place with all those strippers and all that gambling anyway...TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.
The US is destroying itself as a destination.1 -
Some horrendous numbers from the water companies - Southern Water might be the worst with a 46.7% increase with the cost moving from £1.31 a day to £1.93 a day. Obviously, meters help but using less water might help more.Luckyguy1983 said:
It would. Someone would get the franchise with none of the debt of Thames Water.Barnesian said:
Yes - but I still want the water and sewerage to work!Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.
The Broadband companies have gone for a 6.4% increase widely so with Council Tax going up well above inflation as well it really is going to be painful for UK households.
What's the alternative? Should we compel private companies and local councils to not raise prices above CPI, RPI, RPIX or some other measure? Price controls?0 -
We should send Leon to the US to test the waters.TheScreamingEagles said:
Yes, you absolute melt.williamglenn said:Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?
Your spinning for the evils of Trump makes you an absolute bellend.
Sorry to be so brutal but that's the truth.0 -
I've told my boss that I'm not prepared to go.DavidL said:
The loss of our holiday and @TSE's trip is insignificant but mony a mickle maks a muckle as they say just north of here.GIN1138 said:
A good boy like you would have been totally out of place with all those strippers and all that gambling anyway...TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.
The US is destroying itself as a destination.1 -
Vance and Orr don’t understand “realism” in foreign policy.MattW said:
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ
They assume it’s all about screwing other nations over, for immediate advantage, whilst ignoring the long term advantages to being known as a good actor.5 -
Musk believes that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to fundamentally trim the extent of the State, and that the more (and deeper) the cuts are, the harder it will be to reverse them. Any negative impact, due to closing down good programs, will (be believes) be swamped by the benefits of closing down bad ones. And any delay to judge good from bad imperils the whole opportunity.StillWaters said:
But it’s data! At someone else’s expense! Sure Musk understands that!rcs1000 said:
It's government spending.StillWaters said:
That’s what I struggle to understand. I get that you think that government spends too much money. But why close something like that? What is the downside of keeping it going?MattW said:One thing on the CDC cut by the Trump regime.
Trump is shutting down longitudinal health studies. The one I heard mentioned on a Bulwark podcast was a 30 year diabetes study.
They get more value, and statistical power, as they roll on.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
There's no cost benefit analysis, just a belief that government spending is wrong.
And while I don't agree, I understand that philosophy.
However, this will inevitably be a political minefield. Moving Social Security off cobol will, I'm sure save hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But if it fucks up payments for 10% of recipients for a month or two, then the economic damage will be horrendous - and the political blowback enormous.
Trump's tariff are equally dumb. Who is going to invest in -say- US clothing manufacturing, on the basis that tariffs will continue in perpetuity? All it does is penalize those people at the bottom of the income spectrum.0 -
How about masked men snatching a student off the street and the repeated defiance shown to court orders?williamglenn said:
Much of what gets attributed to "the evils of Trump" is just how the US has always been. Border enforcement has always been a minefield.TheScreamingEagles said:
Yes, you absolute melt.williamglenn said:Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?
Your spinning for the evils of Trump makes you an absolute bellend.
Sorry to be so brutal but that's the truth.0 -
Basic economics is not a strong point of the current administration.Sean_F said:
Vance and Orr don’t understand “realism” in foreign policy.MattW said:
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ
They assume it’s all about screwing other nations over, for immediate advantage, whilst ignoring the long term advantages to being known as a good actor.0 -
Hate to dredge up Letby again, but WTF?
https://unherd.com/newsroom/were-the-blood-tests-in-lucy-letbys-conviction-flawed/
Note that the wildly inaccurate measurements claimed by the lab for the quality control sample are very similar to the ones reported for Baby L.
The jury were instructed that they could rely on their assessment of the use of insulin by Letby to poison baby L & F to inform their opinion of her guilt in all the other deaths or injuries. They were also instructed that they could rely on the lab’s assessment of the insulin / C-peptide in the blood samples by the judge in his summing up.
If the insulin tests were as wildly inaccurate as claimed, then the entire prosecution falls apart I think? The cross-admissibility instruction makes the rest of the convictions unsafe.0 -
No it isn't and this isn't a "premium" it's out and out price gouging by a monopoly supplier aided and abetted by the toothless regulator. Bankrupt the whole industry and nationalise it. Water should never have been privatised, customers have paid tens of billions in dividends to vulture capitalists and our rivers and beaches are more polluted than ever. No more dividends, no more leverage, no more private ownership of monopoly suppliers and bar the current and previous shareholders from purchasing UK infrastructure assets for a minimum period of 25 years.StillWaters said:
Administration takes time and creates disruption. Worth paying a premium to avoid thatAugustusCarp2 said:
Quite right! The Government then buys the assets from the Receivers for £1.00 That's how it's supposed to work.Luckyguy1983 said:
Just let them go bust. That's how it's meant to operate.AugustusCarp2 said:
I'm thinking of renationalisation without compensation....Barnesian said:
Mine has increased from £846 to £1,164 38%Sunil_Prasannan said:
Thames Water
I'm thinking of getting a meter.2 -
Actually, there's very little of that these days though you can find it if you look hard enough.GIN1138 said:
A good boy like you would have been totally out of place with all those strippers and all that gambling anyway...TheScreamingEagles said:
I cancelled my trip to Vegas Grand Prix that was due this November.DavidL said:
That’s it. We are not going.rottenborough said:Foreign students in US are this afternoon receiving emails revoking visa due to social media record.
I cannot take the risk.
I won't go back to America until the exchange rate improves - nothing to do with the politics, $1.28 is not good enough to live well in Vegas - first time we went, back in the mid-2000s, we got $2.05 and lived like kings. Vegas also seems to have absorbed more inflation than most and while we could eat at Denny's, I don't go to Vegas to eat at Denny's and if I have to win $150 to afford a decent dinner, that's a challenge.
2 -
It absolutely is. WTF should the water customers of Thames have to pay for a wrong call on interest rates by people who have done very nicely indeed out of it to date? Its outrageous.ydoethur said:Even if Thames Water isn't fully nationalised - and to be blunt it should be - it is surely high time and long overdue that the government looked at the sort of debt for equity swap they did with RBS and HBOS.
This is just ridiculous.6 -
The problem with that article is that it is high on hyperbole, and light on data. "Multiple false readings" sounds terrible... But is it multiple false readings over tens of tests, or millions of tests? Without that information, it's hard to get a handle on whether it is likely that the insulin - c-peptide levels measured were likely the result of measurement error (and there were no murders), or not.Phil said:Hate to dredge up Letby again, but WTF?
https://unherd.com/newsroom/were-the-blood-tests-in-lucy-letbys-conviction-flawed/
Note that the wildly inaccurate measurements claimed by the lab for the quality control sample are very similar to the ones reported for Baby L.
The jury were instructed that they could rely on their assessment of the use of insulin by Letby to poison baby L & F to inform their opinion of her guilt in all the other deaths or injuries. They were also instructed that they could rely on the lab’s assessment of the insulin / C-peptide in the blood samples by the judge in his summing up.
If the insulin tests were as wildly inaccurate as claimed, then the entire prosecution falls apart I think? The cross-admissibility instruction makes the rest of the convictions unsafe.0 -
Jenrick. I would leave the UK and live in France full time and without hesitation if Farage ever became PM. Jenrick is just an opportunist who will be found out. I'd put Braverman in the Farage category but not quite JenrickMexicanpete said:
Or at the next election and a two horse race between Farage and Jenrick, who would I vote for with a gun to my head? Well, probably Farage, as I don't believe British politics has seen anyone quite so evil ( Braverman excepted, which goes without saying) since Alan B'Stard.Roger said:
Perhaps a better analogy is a rattlesnake living quietly resting under a rock or an out of control elephant with a red hot poker shoved up its bumydoethur said:
You can't despise Trump more than I do, but to suggest what America under Trump is doing is as bad as what China is doing to the Uighers and Tibetans, or indeed the people of Hong Kong, is simply nonsensical. Cosying up to China to distance ourselves from America would be like trying to bargain with a rattlesnake to take on an enormous blundering elephant.Roger said:
Time to batten down the hatches. If our principal ally has gone rogue we neen a new one. China or the EU. I'd prefer either to Trump's AmericaScott_xP said:WTAF???
@NOELreports
🇺🇸 Fox News host Jesse Watters: “We don’t need friends. If we have to burn some bridges with Denmark to take Greenland, so be it. We’re big boys. We dropped bombs on Japan, and now they’re our ally. America isn’t handcuffed by history.”
https://x.com/NOELreports/status/19059271087123867911 -
Its not even close. Extraordinary rendition was a disgrace but was limited to people against whom there was at least some evidence of terrorism. This can catch anyone and the random element is the most troubling of all.TheScreamingEagles said:
Yes, you absolute melt.williamglenn said:Is the US really more dangerous to visit than during the Bush extraordinary rendition era?
Your spinning for the evils of Trump makes you an absolute bellend.
Sorry to be so brutal but that's the truth.3 -
Would you leave France if Le Pen became President?Roger said:
Jenrick. I would leave the UK and live in France full time and without hesitation if Farage ever became PM. Jenrick is just an opportunist who will be found out. I'd put Braverman in the Farage category but not quite JenrickMexicanpete said:
Or at the next election and a two horse race between Farage and Jenrick, who would I vote for with a gun to my head? Well, probably Farage, as I don't believe British politics has seen anyone quite so evil ( Braverman excepted, which goes without saying) since Alan B'Stard.Roger said:
Perhaps a better analogy is a rattlesnake living quietly resting under a rock or an out of control elephant with a red hot poker shoved up its bumydoethur said:
You can't despise Trump more than I do, but to suggest what America under Trump is doing is as bad as what China is doing to the Uighers and Tibetans, or indeed the people of Hong Kong, is simply nonsensical. Cosying up to China to distance ourselves from America would be like trying to bargain with a rattlesnake to take on an enormous blundering elephant.Roger said:
Time to batten down the hatches. If our principal ally has gone rogue we neen a new one. China or the EU. I'd prefer either to Trump's AmericaScott_xP said:WTAF???
@NOELreports
🇺🇸 Fox News host Jesse Watters: “We don’t need friends. If we have to burn some bridges with Denmark to take Greenland, so be it. We’re big boys. We dropped bombs on Japan, and now they’re our ally. America isn’t handcuffed by history.”
https://x.com/NOELreports/status/19059271087123867910 -
Tens of billions have been sucked out of customers bank accounts and we get absolutely fuck all in return. The rivers are still polluted and the beaches still have raw sewage (a polite way of saying shit and piss) pumped into the sea on a daily basis even without rain causing overflows. Zero investment, tens of billions in leverage and tens of billions paid out in dividends.DavidL said:
It absolutely is. WTF should the water customers of Thames have to pay for a wrong call on interest rates by people who have done very nicely indeed out of it to date? Its outrageous.ydoethur said:Even if Thames Water isn't fully nationalised - and to be blunt it should be - it is surely high time and long overdue that the government looked at the sort of debt for equity swap they did with RBS and HBOS.
This is just ridiculous.
I'm a pretty right wing capitalist but the one area which makes me a raging lefty is the water industry. Bankrupt it all and bar any previous owner of any water company from owning UK infrastructure. They need to be turned into forced sellers of anything else they own too, literal fucking parasites sucking the blood out of the country.5 -
A fair criticism. But if you send a bunch of tests to a lab & one of them comes back out by a factor of eight then it’s utility as a forensic test is surely fatally compromised?rcs1000 said:
The problem with that article is that it is high on hyperbole, and light on data. "Multiple false readings" sounds terrible... But is it multiple false readings over tens of tests, or millions of tests? Without that information, it's hard to get a handle on whether it is likely that the insulin - c-peptide levels measured were likely the result of measurement error (and there were no murders), or not.Phil said:Hate to dredge up Letby again, but WTF?
https://unherd.com/newsroom/were-the-blood-tests-in-lucy-letbys-conviction-flawed/
Note that the wildly inaccurate measurements claimed by the lab for the quality control sample are very similar to the ones reported for Baby L.
The jury were instructed that they could rely on their assessment of the use of insulin by Letby to poison baby L & F to inform their opinion of her guilt in all the other deaths or injuries. They were also instructed that they could rely on the lab’s assessment of the insulin / C-peptide in the blood samples by the judge in his summing up.
If the insulin tests were as wildly inaccurate as claimed, then the entire prosecution falls apart I think? The cross-admissibility instruction makes the rest of the convictions unsafe.
At the very least, the jury should have been accurately informed of what level of confidence they should place in the insulin / C-peptide tests. Instead the judge told them they could have absolute confidence in the reported values.0 -
Especially, get the fecking National Grid out of Macquarie's hands right now, not sell them more of it.MaxPB said:
Tens of billions have been sucked out of customers bank accounts and we get absolutely fuck all in return. The rivers are still polluted and the beaches still have raw sewage (a polite way of saying shit and piss) pumped into the sea on a daily basis even without rain causing overflows. Zero investment, tens of billions in leverage and tens of billions paid out in dividends.DavidL said:
It absolutely is. WTF should the water customers of Thames have to pay for a wrong call on interest rates by people who have done very nicely indeed out of it to date? Its outrageous.ydoethur said:Even if Thames Water isn't fully nationalised - and to be blunt it should be - it is surely high time and long overdue that the government looked at the sort of debt for equity swap they did with RBS and HBOS.
This is just ridiculous.
I'm a pretty right wing capitalist but the one area which makes me a raging lefty is the water industry. Bankrupt it all and bar any previous owner of any water company from owning UK infrastructure. They need to be turned into forced sellers of anything else they own too, literal fucking parasites sucking the blood out of the country.
That is literally insane. Madder than making Musk anything other than the toilet attendant at JFK.
Edit - on checking it's the gas grid, but even so - I do not want them near anything that explodes when it leaks.1 -
Or good administration. Or the concepts of right and wrong. Or the reasons behind the rule of law. I could go on all day here.rcs1000 said:
Basic economics is not a strong point of the current administration.Sean_F said:
Vance and Orr don’t understand “realism” in foreign policy.MattW said:
I've listened and I found the interview to be extraordinarily soft, and notable for the things left out.algarkirk said:Just listened to the Today podcast where Nick and Amol interview Dr James Orr, who is Vance's intellectual apologist in the UK. Extraordinary in two ways: Orr, who is bright and clever was clearly delusional about his friend and what is occurring as USA descends into a police state; and the interviewers, by asking several long questions at a time allowed him to evade all hard issues, which Orr did outstandingly well.
Nothing about Orr's analysis made sense of the Trumpian/Vance wish to absorb friendly sovereign territory - Canada and Greenland - into the USA, and Orr was allowed to evade the issue, and many others.
No hard questions about Barr's own positions - he is an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University, and something between a conservative evangelical and a fundamentalist (I have not heard enough to discern just where he stands). People with fairly fixed positions can often be very perceptive analysts of positions they do not hold - see some of the often Far Left analysis of the positions of democratic parties.
And they did not even tackle him on eg Vance's Munich Speech being full of fabrications.
It is interesting that Orr attempts to position David Frum as not being conservative, the 'NatCon view' being that Frum's more internationalist conservatism, which Orr positions as Neocon, is an historical dead end.
Orr calls Vance "an old fashioned realist, that is to say an American Palmerston. He does not believe that there are eternal allies, only eternal interests. There is a ruthless pragmatism."
He allots Vance's ideological formation to National Conservatism in the late 2010s, and Orr met him at that type of conference over 6 or 7 years. He frames it as Nat Con giving a framework for Trumpism.
For more, here is Orr on "Family, Faith, Flag, Freedom" at NatCon 2023. To me he has something of both Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQrZPvapJQ
and here is a piece for background about how he was converted to Christianity by reading a Greek New Testament.
https://justinbrierley.beehiiv.com/p/conversion-classicist-reading-greek-new-testament-led-james-orr-christ
They assume it’s all about screwing other nations over, for immediate advantage, whilst ignoring the long term advantages to being known as a good actor.2 -
You're assuming (and Roger is claiming) that it's about politics. But Roger would have his beloved EU citizenship by now if he'd taken up residence in France in 2016. So we all know it's about tax.williamglenn said:
Would you leave France if Le Pen became President?Roger said:
Jenrick. I would leave the UK and live in France full time and without hesitation if Farage ever became PM. Jenrick is just an opportunist who will be found out. I'd put Braverman in the Farage category but not quite JenrickMexicanpete said:
Or at the next election and a two horse race between Farage and Jenrick, who would I vote for with a gun to my head? Well, probably Farage, as I don't believe British politics has seen anyone quite so evil ( Braverman excepted, which goes without saying) since Alan B'Stard.Roger said:
Perhaps a better analogy is a rattlesnake living quietly resting under a rock or an out of control elephant with a red hot poker shoved up its bumydoethur said:
You can't despise Trump more than I do, but to suggest what America under Trump is doing is as bad as what China is doing to the Uighers and Tibetans, or indeed the people of Hong Kong, is simply nonsensical. Cosying up to China to distance ourselves from America would be like trying to bargain with a rattlesnake to take on an enormous blundering elephant.Roger said:
Time to batten down the hatches. If our principal ally has gone rogue we neen a new one. China or the EU. I'd prefer either to Trump's AmericaScott_xP said:WTAF???
@NOELreports
🇺🇸 Fox News host Jesse Watters: “We don’t need friends. If we have to burn some bridges with Denmark to take Greenland, so be it. We’re big boys. We dropped bombs on Japan, and now they’re our ally. America isn’t handcuffed by history.”
https://x.com/NOELreports/status/19059271087123867910 -
The same with all taxSandyRentool said:
That's the thing with council tax. A bug chunk of it gets spent on a minority of residents. Leaving a majority thinking that they get charged a fortune but see little in return.StillWaters said:
Mainly social care, but also SENmalcolmg said:
why has council tax soared if they got rid of a million duffers. The clowns could not run a bath.stodge said:
Agreed and one million local Government jobs lost since 2012 suggests, contrary to what the supply siders would have you believe, there was plenty of austerity goingMattW said:
A slow down in Council Tax rises won't happen. They have had 15 years decades of being shredded, which has fed through to quality of localities and services.stodge said:Morning all
We have Canada voting on April 28th and Australia voting on May 3rd so the new CANZUK alliance might look very different by early May (or it might not as you could easily imagine Carney keeping the Liberals in power and Albanese getting back with Independent help in Canberra).
Some betting opportunities to consider perhaps next month?
On topic, almost all elections are "pocket book" elections inasmuch as how people "feel" economically is a big factor around how they vote. The decisive rejections of Government aren't usually because of a belief the Opposition would do much better but more a perception they couldn't do any worse.
As we now find in many instances they can and do, the option is either to "get the other lot back in" (which is your only option in a rigid 2-party system) or to look elsewhere at the coterie of snake oil salespeople on both and neither extreme (a bit cynical perhaps).
I've raised this many times on here but there still seems to be no practical solution to the issues of stagnant growth and ambient inflation (I seem to recall the UK economy was particularly prone to stubborn inflation). Getting energy prices and council tax rises back to somewhere in the neighbourhood of actual CPI or RPI inflation would be a good start. The notion our energy prices go up so the customers in the countries which own our energy suppliers can see theirs go down (or not rise as much) is a huge bone of contention.
As for local Government finance, notwithstanding the unnecessary costs of pointless re-organisations, the issues of social care, SEN and temporary accommodation costs all remain unresolved - Newham's 8.9% rise in 2025/26 may be part down to overarching incompetence and part down to the same costs as every other councils but the fact remains most people's incomes haven't risen by 8.9% so it's another cost.
I've no statistical evidence but my assertion is we have stagnated since 2008 in terms of living standards. Yes, our assets (primarily but not exclusively property) have appreciated strongly but unless you can release some of that asset (by downsizing) it's not much help. Yet there's plenty of people with plenty of money - I wonder what the take up in ISAs will be in April 2025?
Funding is down hugely - perhaps 30% in real terms since 2010.
on especially in the Coalition years.
Both obligations committed to by central government and then handed off to their local colleagues without new funding streams0
