He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
Starmer is already the problem. I never thought I'd say this but gob on a stick Rayner might be the way to go. She could recover the left and attempt a coalition to defeat RefCon. Streeting takes the Labour Party to oblivion.
And for goodness sake find someone who has at least a fractional clue at communications.
Rayner has some things going for her. She is a woman, something that Labour have never tried before in a permanent leader. She is from a working class background and has made something of herself. In the negative column she is resolutely tribal. Hatred of Tories is fine but the best Labour leader of all time embraced the centre and built a coalition. He made it ok to vote labour for those Tories who happily voted for John Major in 1992. Its possible that she wouldn't need that many votes (see the splintered political landscape) but in truth I think she would be too divisive.
Labour need to save their left flank to avoid extinction against a high flying RefCon.
I don't want Rayner but there's a definite point here. If we're fracturing into multi parties between 10/30% it could become mainly about getting a base out for you rather than the tried and tested 'winning from the centre'.
I'm not keen on Rayner either but Starmer winning from the centre on 20% isn't happening. The important bit now is keeping the fascists out.
Relegate Dirty Leeds, their team is as classy as their fans who are the worst fans in the world after the Welsh rugby team.
Leeds United midfielder Ethan Ampadu could face a Football Association investigation after leading a notorious chant about team-mate Wilfried Gnonto’s “massive” manhood during the club’s Championship-winning open-top bus parade.
Manager Daniel Farke was also caught on camera appearing to mime snorting cocaine as around 150,000 Leeds fans took to the streets on Bank Holiday Monday to celebrate the team’s Premier League return.
Footage of the two incidents were posted online, with Ampadu shown holding a microphone and singing to the tune of La Bamba, “Willy Gnonto, Willy Gnonto. He eats spaghetti, he drinks Moretti, his c---’s f------ massive.” He then added: “And I tell you what, it f------ is!”
Telegraph Sport has been told the FA is aware of the videos and will look into the matter.
He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
Starmer is already the problem. I never thought I'd say this but gob on a stick Rayner might be the way to go. She could recover the left and attempt a coalition to defeat RefCon. Streeting takes the Labour Party to oblivion.
And for goodness sake find someone who has at least a fractional clue at communications.
Rayner has some things going for her. She is a woman, something that Labour have never tried before in a permanent leader. She is from a working class background and has made something of herself. In the negative column she is resolutely tribal. Hatred of Tories is fine but the best Labour leader of all time embraced the centre and built a coalition. He made it ok to vote labour for those Tories who happily voted for John Major in 1992. Its possible that she wouldn't need that many votes (see the splintered political landscape) but in truth I think she would be too divisive.
Labour need to save their left flank to avoid extinction against a high flying RefCon.
I don't want Rayner but there's a definite point here. If we're fracturing into multi parties between 10/30% it could become mainly about getting a base out for you rather than the tried and tested 'winning from the centre'.
I think one has to admire Rayner for getting where she is after a poor start. She obviously has the capacity to learn from experience, and apply that learning. Of course she's made mistakes now and then, but who doesn't?
He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
Starmer is already the problem. I never thought I'd say this but gob on a stick Rayner might be the way to go. She could recover the left and attempt a coalition to defeat RefCon. Streeting takes the Labour Party to oblivion.
And for goodness sake find someone who has at least a fractional clue at communications.
Rayner has some things going for her. She is a woman, something that Labour have never tried before in a permanent leader. She is from a working class background and has made something of herself. In the negative column she is resolutely tribal. Hatred of Tories is fine but the best Labour leader of all time embraced the centre and built a coalition. He made it ok to vote labour for those Tories who happily voted for John Major in 1992. Its possible that she wouldn't need that many votes (see the splintered political landscape) but in truth I think she would be too divisive.
Labour need to save their left flank to avoid extinction against a high flying RefCon.
I don't want Rayner but there's a definite point here. If we're fracturing into multi parties between 10/30% it could become mainly about getting a base out for you rather than the tried and tested 'winning from the centre'.
I'm not keen on Rayner either but Starmer winning from the centre on 20% isn't happening. The important bit now is keeping the fascists out.
I think he'll go before the GE if the polls say a new leader is needed to beat RUK. But we're a way off that yet.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Before the year is out we shall see Reform on 35% and the Tories on 12%.
I'm not so sure. There are plenty of skeletons in RefUKs closet... Paper councilors are just the beginning of the problem. The problematic relationship with Russia and MAGA is still a question that has an answer that few will like. "Events" can still go very wrong indeed for Farage. So I don't see any value in jumping on NF Nigel's bandwagon just yet.
Chavs don't give a shit about Russia and, like almost everyone else, are bored of Ukraine. They also quite like DJT's flamboyant cruelty to minorities and general shithousery. Neither of things will hurt the Fukkers electorally.
What will is the bottomless pit of spite that Farage has where his soul should be causing the inevitable feuds, splits and banishments in the Fukker ranks. Also, he's quite fond of a get-rich-quick scheme marketed to gullible morons (remember his gold thing and 'The Brexit Club') and could come unstuck with one of those.
Yup, talking about chavs is definitely the way to go.
He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
Starmer is already the problem. I never thought I'd say this but gob on a stick Rayner might be the way to go. She could recover the left and attempt a coalition to defeat RefCon. Streeting takes the Labour Party to oblivion.
And for goodness sake find someone who has at least a fractional clue at communications.
Rayner has some things going for her. She is a woman, something that Labour have never tried before in a permanent leader. She is from a working class background and has made something of herself. In the negative column she is resolutely tribal. Hatred of Tories is fine but the best Labour leader of all time embraced the centre and built a coalition. He made it ok to vote labour for those Tories who happily voted for John Major in 1992. Its possible that she wouldn't need that many votes (see the splintered political landscape) but in truth I think she would be too divisive.
Labour need to save their left flank to avoid extinction against a high flying RefCon.
I don't want Rayner but there's a definite point here. If we're fracturing into multi parties between 10/30% it could become mainly about getting a base out for you rather than the tried and tested 'winning from the centre'.
I think one has to admire Rayner for getting where she is after a poor start. She obviously has the capacity to learn from experience, and apply that learning. Of course she's made mistakes now and then, but who doesn't?
I like and admire her but she wouldn't be my choice for leader.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because it creates rights.
If the UK government had to pay pensions to every Indian resident who was here for 6-36 months it would be a pain. Administratively simpler to exclude them
Would any of the PB Tories be happy if their only income were the state pension - triple locked or not? Would they consider themselves wealthy?
You've conflated income and wealth. The difficulty with all this is some pensioners can be sat on millions in property wealth while having no other pension income.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because it creates rights.
If the UK government had to pay pensions to every Indian resident who was here for 6-36 months it would be a pain. Administratively simpler to exclude them
You need 10 years of contributions to get a pension now.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
If I go to France and work one day there, would it be sensible to have a system where I have to pay taxes while there? No. It's clearly silly taxing short visits. On the other hand, 5 years, as you say, seems very long. So what's a sensible intermediate time period?
18 months, renewable once if the applicant can demonstrate it is truly temporary
He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
Starmer is already the problem. I never thought I'd say this but gob on a stick Rayner might be the way to go. She could recover the left and attempt a coalition to defeat RefCon. Streeting takes the Labour Party to oblivion.
And for goodness sake find someone who has at least a fractional clue at communications.
Rayner has some things going for her. She is a woman, something that Labour have never tried before in a permanent leader. She is from a working class background and has made something of herself. In the negative column she is resolutely tribal. Hatred of Tories is fine but the best Labour leader of all time embraced the centre and built a coalition. He made it ok to vote labour for those Tories who happily voted for John Major in 1992. Its possible that she wouldn't need that many votes (see the splintered political landscape) but in truth I think she would be too divisive.
Labour need to save their left flank to avoid extinction against a high flying RefCon.
I don't want Rayner but there's a definite point here. If we're fracturing into multi parties between 10/30% it could become mainly about getting a base out for you rather than the tried and tested 'winning from the centre'.
I think one has to admire Rayner for getting where she is after a poor start. She obviously has the capacity to learn from experience, and apply that learning. Of course she's made mistakes now and then, but who doesn't?
I like and admire her but she wouldn't be my choice for leader.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
You can still get them online: https://www.medisave.co.uk/collections/test-kits is who I was buying them off back in the day, if you want a more reputable supplier than randos on aliexpress or amazon.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Your opinion matters more than his. There's little value in his assessment because he will oppose anything the government does. Eg if they started sinking the refugee boats to create some drowning deterrence he'd probably say "too little, too late".
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
The 52% who voted for it were not just pensioners.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because if you’re a temporary worker you don’t want to lose out on contributions in your home country as that affects your pension entitlement. This type of arrangement is common but the media have decided to just regurgitate Farage and Kemi’s lies .
I get that but 5 years is not really "temporary".
I also think that if companies want to send workers abroad they should pay the costs of home state social security contributions and the taxes in the country they are moving to. I don't as a matter of principle like endless exemptions for this or that special case. It increases the burden on the rest and gives the impression that some groups are somehow more special than others. Everyone working in a country benefits from the services and structures which taxes pay for. A pick'n'mix approach to taxes feeds into a "taxes are only for the little people" feeling which is behind much of the discontent fuelling politics these days.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
If I go to France and work one day there, would it be sensible to have a system where I have to pay taxes while there? No. It's clearly silly taxing short visits. On the other hand, 5 years, as you say, seems very long. So what's a sensible intermediate time period?
There is English (and Welsh) law. Scots Law. Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have their own laws which makes it reasonable(?) to have their own legislative bodies. But why Wales and the Senned? It's an outlier.
Off to find a tin hat.
Because Wales is part of England & Wales, which is a single state.
E&W is not a state (well, not in 'nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government' terms). I think jurisdiction is the official definition.
You’re right - the UK is the state and E&W, S and NI are all components thereof
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
You can still get them online: https://www.medisave.co.uk/collections/test-kits is who I was buying them off back in the day, if you want a more reputable supplier than randos on aliexpress or amazon.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because it creates rights.
If the UK government had to pay pensions to every Indian resident who was here for 6-36 months it would be a pain. Administratively simpler to exclude them
I thought NI did not give you any legal rights to a pension. Nor do taxes give you a legal right to any public services, come to that.
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
The 52% who voted for it were not just pensioners.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because if you’re a temporary worker you don’t want to lose out on contributions in your home country as that affects your pension entitlement. This type of arrangement is common but the media have decided to just regurgitate Farage and Kemi’s lies .
I get that but 5 years is not really "temporary".
I also think that if companies want to send workers abroad they should pay the costs of home state social security contributions and the taxes in the country they are moving to. I don't as a matter of principle like endless exemptions for this or that special case. It increases the burden on the rest and gives the impression that some groups are somehow more special than others. Everyone working in a country benefits from the services and structures which taxes pay for. A pick'n'mix approach to taxes feeds into a "taxes are only for the little people" feeling which is behind much of the discontent fuelling politics these days.
I understand what you’re saying but temporary workers do still pay tax . The social security element is different and it’s just much easier to exclude the NI, that way they keep pension contributions in their home country .
WRT Labour in the cities, I was genuinely surprised to see Labour only lead Reform 27% to 24% in Exeter. Labour did not win a single division, despite coming first in votes.
Me too. Exeter has become a metropolitan and liberal Labour city.
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
The 52% who voted for it were not just pensioners.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because if you’re a temporary worker you don’t want to lose out on contributions in your home country as that affects your pension entitlement. This type of arrangement is common but the media have decided to just regurgitate Farage and Kemi’s lies .
I get that but 5 years is not really "temporary".
I also think that if companies want to send workers abroad they should pay the costs of home state social security contributions and the taxes in the country they are moving to. I don't as a matter of principle like endless exemptions for this or that special case. It increases the burden on the rest and gives the impression that some groups are somehow more special than others. Everyone working in a country benefits from the services and structures which taxes pay for. A pick'n'mix approach to taxes feeds into a "taxes are only for the little people" feeling which is behind much of the discontent fuelling politics these days.
I understand what you’re saying but temporary workers do still pay tax . The social security element is different and it’s just much easier to exclude the NI, that way they keep pension contributions in their home country .
Thanks. If NI contributions are only for pensions then what you say makes sense. But it undermines making working pensioners pay NI, a proposal I support - partly because we need the money and partly because out of fairness everyone should contribute to the public realm.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
I would bet a gill of milkshake to an avoirdupois pound of gammon that he will not rescind it when in government.
There is English (and Welsh) law. Scots Law. Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have their own laws which makes it reasonable(?) to have their own legislative bodies. But why Wales and the Senned? It's an outlier.
Off to find a tin hat.
Because Wales is part of England & Wales, which is a single state.
The language needs tidying up, as it is hugely equivocal. Nation, state, country, kingdom are all used globally in multiple ways. Britain, British Isles and Great Britain have different meanings. Almost no-one can tell you the legal status of, for example, the Channel Islands or IoM in relation to the UK, UN, Brexit etc. and curiously, though its our own land masses, it is never taught to anyone of any age SFAICS.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
The criticisms of the India FTA are based on a series of misunderstandings.
...
🔵In short, instead of carping, Conservatives should take credit for having initiated this important work, and congratulate @jreynoldsMP for completing it.
WRT Labour in the cities, I was genuinely surprised to see Labour only lead Reform 27% to 24% in Exeter. Labour did not win a single division, despite coming first in votes.
Me too. Exeter WAS a metropolitan and liberal Labour city.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
Are you telling us that Starmer’s deal doesn’t even have an equivalent of Article 50? Surely he’s not that bad?
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Your opinion matters more than his. There's little value in his assessment because he will oppose anything the government does. Eg if they started sinking the refugee boats to create some drowning deterrence he'd probably say "too little, too late".
Farage was on tv/radio this morning eloquently tearing the deal to shreds. Even if he’s wrong he does it plausibly
@Sean_F - much as we all love him - was NOT on tv/radio this morning saying “actually the deal is OK”
Moreover, Farage might be right. There might be no cap put on numbers. We might see 100,000 Indian workers come over, and take British jobs because they’re cheaper
I’ve yet to see a government spokesman explain why this absolutely cannot happen. Which leads me to suspect it could happen - unless someone here knows better?
If that could happen - 100,000 Indians etc - the deal is another Labour disaster. Perhaps terminal
Before the year is out we shall see Reform on 35% and the Tories on 12%.
The floor for the Tories is zero.
I'm not sure what constituency they speak to now. Maybe a praetorian guard of historical loyalists.
That's it.
Don't forget the people whose favourite colour is blue, they will be the last to leave.
The Tories will continue to exist in pockets, where local people still support local candidates. But outside of these warm glows its like the heat death of the Tory universe.
This new Deportation Bill they have published, with intellectual titans like Matt I Like Parmos Me Vickers banging the drum for it.
If you support these policies Matt then why didn't your government introduce them? They had long enough. And that seems to be the general response to the Badenoch I'm Tough Bill - meh. Too little too late.
This now becomes their problem. They can try and radiate heat and light. But they're so far away from the political mainstream that the voters barely notice.
Their only hope is to come up with something different. If they keep pushing further on immigration they may well persuade more people of their cause - but the logic of supporting that cause is now to vote Reform, not Conservative.
I am baffled that Conservative politicians cannot see the inevitability of this. Yes Jenrick will be better at the messaging than Badenoch, but that actually would lead to Reform gaining on the Conservatives faster than they are now!
Jenrick would be a brilliant leader of...Reform. I think the only way for the Conservatives to find some voters is to distinguish themselves from the MAGAism with someone affable and reasonable - Cleverly.
I don't think he can get them much more than 20%, but at least it's not extinction. My older relatives would be comfortable voting for him, even as a protest against Farage.
Cleverly is a nice guy but a big of an empty vessel.
There's no leader that can claw the Conservatives back right now, IMHO.
Boris would give the Tories the lead again More in Common found yesterday. Otherwise the Tories best bet may be PR ironically
Maybe people just want good vibes and banter and don't care much about the reality on the basis it will be shit anyway?
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
Are you telling us that Starmer’s deal doesn’t even have an equivalent of Article 50? Surely he’s not that bad?
An Article 50 equivalent isn't needed. 'We can renege on treaties whenever we like' has been the Brexit credo for years. Nigel can't suddenly turn to the niceties of international law to justify inaction.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
Are you telling us that Starmer’s deal doesn’t even have an equivalent of Article 50? Surely he’s not that bad?
No, what is being suggested is your boy might be a Charlatan who is not telling the truth.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
The criticisms of the India FTA are based on a series of misunderstandings.
...
🔵In short, instead of carping, Conservatives should take credit for having initiated this important work, and congratulate @jreynoldsMP for completing it.
Much as I think Hannan is an endlessly self-contradicting dick, well done to him for saying it. One possible way out of the current seething, Farage-tainted mess is for opposing parties to graciously agree when it’s possible rather than the constant sour oppositionism. Disclaimer: I barely have an opinion on the India trade deal.
WRT Labour in the cities, I was genuinely surprised to see Labour only lead Reform 27% to 24% in Exeter. Labour did not win a single division, despite coming first in votes.
Me too. Exeter WAS a metropolitan and liberal Labour city.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
Reynolds has said with paying tax at home and paying the NHS surcharge they have no direct advantage. There are apparently 17 other trade deals including the one with the EU which operate with a similar proposition. Or are you specifically worried about Indians because they have a different complexion to say the Germans?
When you spend six months working in Thailand do you pay your tax in Blighty or Thailand?
Anyway I've got to go before the sun appears over the yardarm and you become tired and emotional.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
The gotcha on you is so obvious Leon. So many UK businesses from care, building, high street, hospitality, are crying out to bring people in, you are saying No! Those jobs for British workers - zero movement.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
'The government will make it a crime to climb on Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square, it will be announced today.
Offenders could face up to three months in prison and a £1,000 fine for desecrating the monument to Britain's wartime leader.
The Churchill statue is not officially classified as one of the UK's war memorials, but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper plans to add it to the list of statues and monuments which it will soon become a criminal offence to climb.
These will include the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, and many other famous structures across Britain commemorating the service of the armed forces in the First and Second World Wars. The new law is contained in the flagship Crime and Policing Bill currently progressing through Parliament.' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdded9rqd2do
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
Reynolds has said with paying tax at home and paying the NHS surcharge thruhave no direct advantage. There are apparently 17 other trade deals including the one with the EU which operate with a similar proposition. Or are you specifically worried about Indians because they have a different complexion to say the Germans?
When you spend six months working in Thailand do you pay your tax in Blighty or Thailand?
Anyway I've got to go before the sun appears over the yardarm and you become tired and emotional.
You cannot see that there is a much greater incentive for Indians to come here than Austrians, because Indians are really poor and there are 1.4bn of them? And 500,000 came in the last 3 years even before this?
If this is the best defence of the deal then it is indeed terrible. Strongly reminiscent of Blair’s “13,000 east Europeans”
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
Boots had some last time I was in there. And you're probably in an Amazon sameday area.
👍👍
You don't get hay fever do you? For some reason people are really suffering at the moment.
I do get hay fever but this is way beyond that. I only know this coz I had it before with covid. Anosmia is the word, I think?
It’s very distinctive - you basically can’t smell anything. I just tried lemon, coffee, sourdough bread, a reed diffuser. Nada
It’s not nice coz it makes food tasteless, for a start
It's psychologically unpleasant. I got it with Covid and it lasted weeks. Then with my (not Covid) bug this winter I got it again. This time it cleared up in just a few days. Hopefully, it'll be the same with you. Sure it will.
Risking TMI, it's a great moment when the sense of smell comes back and for me, since I try and avoid obsessively sniffing things, that's when I pick up the aromatic evidence of farting in the bath.
Weather stat: May 2nd 2025 was the biggest single day of solar generation I have had at my house (40.6kwh) since getting the panels installed just over two years ago, slightly beating the previous maximum of Jun 14th 2023 (39.6Kwh). You'd have thought there was only so sunny a day could be. Cloudless is cloudless. And you wouldn't have thought it was possible to be sunnier than a cloudless day in mid-June.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
I am not sure that the retail covid tests are very reliable with the new variants.
Mrs Foxy's sense of smell and taste never fully recovered from covid. She caught it in the Delta wave of autumn 2020. She can taste and smell, but definitely not so well.
The criticisms of the India FTA are based on a series of misunderstandings.
...
🔵In short, instead of carping, Conservatives should take credit for having initiated this important work, and congratulate @jreynoldsMP for completing it.
Much as I think Hannan is an endlessly self-contradicting dick, well done to him for saying it. One possible way out of the current seething, Farage-tainted mess is for opposing parties to graciously agree when it’s possible rather than the constant sour oppositionism. Disclaimer: I barely have an opinion on the India trade deal.
The problem with Hannan is that he has no understanding of how the political debate has moved on since 2016, and has turned quite violently against immigration. He simply doesn’t get that
He sees the rationality of a free trade deal and not the optics of yet more migration
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
Boots had some last time I was in there. And you're probably in an Amazon sameday area.
👍👍
You don't get hay fever do you? For some reason people are really suffering at the moment.
I do get hay fever but this is way beyond that. I only know this coz I had it before with covid. Anosmia is the word, I think?
It’s very distinctive - you basically can’t smell anything. I just tried lemon, coffee, sourdough bread, a reed diffuser. Nada
It’s not nice coz it makes food tasteless, for a start
It's psychologically unpleasant. I got it with Covid and it lasted weeks. Then with my (not Covid) bug this winter I got it again. This time it cleared up in just a few days. Hopefully, it'll be the same with you. Sure it will.
Risking TMI, it's a great moment when the sense of smell comes back and for me, since I try and avoid obsessively sniffing things, that's when I pick up the aromatic evidence of farting in the bath.
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
If we have over a dozen such deals with other countries, signed while we were EU members, how is this one a Brexit benefit? Can anyone explain?
He's doing what public sector timeservers like him love doing, indeed fulfilling their raison d'etre - holding office and drawing a salary and its perks. The fact that few if any of his policies are working and most are actively harmful is irrelevant. When he almost quit after Hartlepool it was almost certainly because he looked unlikely ever to get the chance.
In the meantime, he has a huge majority where it counts and four more years till he needs to face the voters. Why would he quit?
There are reasons for Starmer to go and none for him to stay. Imo Starmer will retire early in the same way Harold Wilson did (and he will have seen Biden, Trump and Thatcher go on too long; Churchill too, as he will have seen on Netflix). He makes the odd verbal slip; he will not wish to lead Labour to a crunching defeat; in just a few weeks he will be our oldest prime minister since Mrs Thatcher; six of our last seven prime ministers served three years or less, which would take Starmer to 2027, two years out from a 2029 general election; he is not a natural politician and his ambition was to be Attorney General.
ETA none of the above involves Starmer being deposed. I imagine he will retire early but on his own terms.
I don't see any real point (except politics) for him to leave until the Ukraine situation is more stable. We are at a hinge point, and we need a steady hand - which Starmer is demonstrating so far.
I don't agree we need a steady hand domestically. Steadiness has given us at best stagnation and at worst slow decline. These will lead to politics getting more and more fractious, and, eventually some form of explosion, putting democracy here at risk.
We need a good disruptor - someone like Javier Milei or Margaret Thatcher - to reverse our decline. Of course, turning a country around is a hugely complicated and difficult task, and the risk is that we get a terrible or incompetent disruptor like Liz Truss or Corbyn, but I think it's worth taking that risk.
WRT Labour in the cities, I was genuinely surprised to see Labour only lead Reform 27% to 24% in Exeter. Labour did not win a single division, despite coming first in votes.
Me too. Exeter has become a metropolitan and liberal Labour city.
There have always been more working class areas of Exeter like Pinhoe, Whipton Barton, Wonford, etc.
Numerically there simply aren't that many metropolitan liberal types, which is why it's Reform who are leading the national polling and not the Greens.
So one of the two Reform councillors elected in the island’s by-elections seems already to have disappeared. He didn’t campaign or issue any statements or respond to the press during the by-election, other than the Reform leaflet delivered that describes him as a ‘local businessman’. He didn’t turn up to the count, and has missed the scheduled swearing in session at the town hall. No-one seems to know who he is, and his business address is just a correspondence one. All very mysterious.
Advice to Reform voters in Wales and elsewhere - do give some attention as to the name on the ballot paper!
Lets be honest here - Reform have elected some absolute paper candidates last week. People persuaded to stand because the party wants to have more candidates than any other party.
Its entirely possible this guy is away on business - had plans already post election and so what as there's no way they were getting elected...
Though it's an odd sort of business where he can't be contacted at all. And the Island is the sort of place where everyone knows everyone.
Curious.
Well the alternative is that Reform submitted nomination papers for someone who didn't exist, with forged signatures and then 10 other people also signing to pledge that the fake person was real.
If LabCon did that there would be an absolute pile-on. Reform? How dare you losers attack Nigel.
On the absent David Maclean, the other Reform Councillor said it was due to a "family emergency". We also have a fair record of Councillors representing their wards from the other side of the world for extended periods.
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
The 52% who voted for it were not just pensioners.
Under a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2012, the UK and Chile signed an agreement exempting temporary workers from social security contributions for *five* years
Not undercutting then, not undercutting now with India
5 years seems a very elastic definition of "temporary".
If you live and work in another country why shouldn't you pay the same taxes as everyone else?
Because if you’re a temporary worker you don’t want to lose out on contributions in your home country as that affects your pension entitlement. This type of arrangement is common but the media have decided to just regurgitate Farage and Kemi’s lies .
I get that but 5 years is not really "temporary".
I also think that if companies want to send workers abroad they should pay the costs of home state social security contributions and the taxes in the country they are moving to. I don't as a matter of principle like endless exemptions for this or that special case. It increases the burden on the rest and gives the impression that some groups are somehow more special than others. Everyone working in a country benefits from the services and structures which taxes pay for. A pick'n'mix approach to taxes feeds into a "taxes are only for the little people" feeling which is behind much of the discontent fuelling politics these days.
I understand what you’re saying but temporary workers do still pay tax . The social security element is different and it’s just much easier to exclude the NI, that way they keep pension contributions in their home country .
Another example of why NI and income tax should be merged?
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
I am not sure that the retail covid tests are very reliable with the new variants.
Mrs Foxy's sense of smell and taste never fully recovered from covid. She caught it in the Delta wave of autumn 2020. She can taste and smell, but definitely not so well.
Rather oddly I had complete loss of smell yet could taste more or less ok.
Irony is the Conservative Party ought to be joining Steve Baker, Dan Hannan in a victory lap. Conventional wisdom in 2016 was that an FTA with India and accession to CPTPP were pipe-dreams. They won!
The only version of Brexit which has turned out to be remotely coherent is shabby, autarkic decline with the young used as a trapped peon class to provide taxes and services for those in comfortable retirement.
Absolutely spot-on. Brexit has not been a roll of the dice by the desperate with nothing to lose. It has been a decision by those - the old with triple-locked pensions - with secure income able to indulge their luxury beliefs.
If we have over a dozen such deals with other countries, signed while we were EU members, how is this one a Brexit benefit? Can anyone explain?
Prior to Brexit non-EU migration was a national issue, so this sort of deal on double taxation was always possible. The trade elements were not.
It was the Indian government insisting on visas and Social security being part of a deal that was preventing previous versions from passing.. That may well not have been true for Chile etc.
WRT Labour in the cities, I was genuinely surprised to see Labour only lead Reform 27% to 24% in Exeter. Labour did not win a single division, despite coming first in votes.
Me too. Exeter has become a metropolitan and liberal Labour city.
There have always been more working class areas of Exeter like Pinhoe, Whipton Barton, Wonford, etc.
Numerically there simply aren't that many metropolitan liberal types, which is why it's Reform who are leading the national polling and not the Greens.
I had an idle 'what if I moved to Exeter?' speculation a couple of years back (inevitably prompted by a pleasant holiday in the south west) - had a little detour through the city, did some tourism on Google streetview and rightmove - and from my admittedly superficial analysis was surprised by how many non-middle-class areas of Exeter there were.
Still a quite nice city, mind, with a lovely hinterland. Very liveable I imagine. But much more in the way of humdrum suburbs than other cathedral cities I know better like Chester or York.
Weather stat: May 2nd 2025 was the biggest single day of solar generation I have had at my house (40.6kwh) since getting the panels installed just over two years ago, slightly beating the previous maximum of Jun 14th 2023 (39.6Kwh). You'd have thought there was only so sunny a day could be. Cloudless is cloudless. And you wouldn't have thought it was possible to be sunnier than a cloudless day in mid-June.
I believe the sunniest month on record in the UK is May 2020 (at least it was at the time, there may have been a sunnier month since).
Brexiters like Farage, who promised that Brexit would allow us to make great trade deals around the world, seem to still be of the impression that we can get what we want on trade deals without compromise.
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to still buy their nonsense.
Brexiters like Farage, who promised that Brexit would allow us to make great trade deals around the world, seem to still be of the impression that we can get what we want on trade deals without compromise.
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to still buy their nonsense.
They could reasonably argue that they would make different compromises.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Farage is the only voice that matters this week. Even if he is talking bollocks the mainstream news can't get enough of the gurning twat.
Nigel needs to be asked the perfectly reasonable question: when you're PM will you unilaterally pull out of the India trade deal? 'No' and that will kill his objections stone dead; 'Yes' and he's Britain Trump with all the political problems that will entail.
I would bet a gill of milkshake to an avoirdupois pound of gammon that he will not rescind it when in government.
I really must insist on "if" instead of "when" there.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
The gotcha on you is so obvious Leon. So many UK businesses from care, building, high street, hospitality, are crying out to bring people in, you are saying No! Those jobs for British workers - zero movement.
Can’t you see how utterly stupid that sounds?
But British companies can’t benefit from the NI tax break, only Indian companies can.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
Boots had some last time I was in there. And you're probably in an Amazon sameday area.
👍👍
You don't get hay fever do you? For some reason people are really suffering at the moment.
I do get hay fever but this is way beyond that. I only know this coz I had it before with covid. Anosmia is the word, I think?
It’s very distinctive - you basically can’t smell anything. I just tried lemon, coffee, sourdough bread, a reed diffuser. Nada
It’s not nice coz it makes food tasteless, for a start
It's psychologically unpleasant. I got it with Covid and it lasted weeks. Then with my (not Covid) bug this winter I got it again. This time it cleared up in just a few days. Hopefully, it'll be the same with you. Sure it will.
Risking TMI, it's a great moment when the sense of smell comes back and for me, since I try and avoid obsessively sniffing things, that's when I pick up the aromatic evidence of farting in the bath.
lol. Thanks for the wisdom
I hope you’re right because it is freaky and doubleplusungood
Also says he's never punched anyone before in his life. Which I'm prepared to take at face value with only the minor comment that he doesn't look like someone who's only ever thrown one punch in his life. But faces can be misleading.
Also says he's never punched anyone before in his life. Which I'm prepared to take at face value with only the minor comment that he doesn't look like someone who's only ever thrown one punch in his life. But faces can be misleading.
Doesn't someone's face more indicate punches taken rather than thrown?
Brexiters like Farage, who promised that Brexit would allow us to make great trade deals around the world, seem to still be of the impression that we can get what we want on trade deals without compromise.
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to still buy their nonsense.
Also says he's never punched anyone before in his life. Which I'm prepared to take at face value with only the minor comment that he doesn't look like someone who's only ever thrown one punch in his life. But faces can be misleading.
Did we ever get the full story of why Amesbury assaulted that guy?
More in Common has Ref 27%, Lab 23%, Con 21%, LD 15%
Fieldwork taken over the weekend after the local election results so some relief from the Tories they are over 20% when they were only on 15% on the local elections NEV. Reform also 3% below the 30% they got last Thursday and Labour 3% up too https://x.com/LukeTryl/status/1920015225333370996
Also says he's never punched anyone before in his life. Which I'm prepared to take at face value with only the minor comment that he doesn't look like someone who's only ever thrown one punch in his life. But faces can be misleading.
Did we ever get the full story of why Amesbury assaulted that guy?
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
I have some sympathy for the government in this matter. The new populist right just make up lies and it's difficult to counter that.
So the Brexiters were saying we can make new trade deals and as soon as one arrives they don’t like it .
And of course the media has failed to report what the deal actually means and that we have the same social security arrangements with a host of countries .
So really why bother with new trade deals , it’s just not worth it .
Dowden, Hannan and the Daily Telegraph leader are all on board.
However Farage isn't and that is all that matters on broadcast media.
On the face of it, I think it's a reasonable deal.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Spin is criticised, and often rightly so, but I suspect the government are going to gravely suffer here for having poor communications.
Government Comms are dreadful.
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Ok, can you explain to me how it is impossible, under this deal, for tens of thousands of Indians to come to Britain and take British jobs, seeing as the Indians are now much cheaper to hire
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
The gotcha on you is so obvious Leon. So many UK businesses from care, building, high street, hospitality, are crying out to bring people in, you are saying No! Those jobs for British workers - zero movement.
Can’t you see how utterly stupid that sounds?
But British companies can’t benefit from the NI tax break, only Indian companies can.
For how many thousands of jobs for what period of time? The bottom line is everything about this India deal is INCONSEQUENTIAL. 0.1%
Government and opposition trying to make out there’s any consequential points from this mere inconsequential memorandum of understanding is silly.
Eek. I think I have covid. No sense of smell. Sudden symptom and decidedly odd
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
I don't think you can. You could always use the last Government's preferred route of procurement- AliExpress.
Ah bollocks. But thanks
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
My wife and I are recovering from a brutal respiratory infection now in the 3rd week with dreadful cough but tested negative for covid and we also lost our taste
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
Comments
Anyway, must dash. Leon had stirred.
Doesn't have the flair or communication skills.
But, I suspect that my opinion matters far less than Farage's.
Does anyone know if you can still get test kits at Boots etc?
If the UK government had to pay pensions to every Indian resident who was here for 6-36 months it would be a pain. Administratively simpler to exclude them
Losing sense of smell is quite disturbing- it happened to me before with Covid and freaked me out. It alters life a lot
However it returned quite quickly - a few days - so I am 🙏🙏 the same happens now
I also think that if companies want to send workers abroad they should pay the costs of home state social security contributions and the taxes in the country they are moving to. I don't as a matter of principle like endless exemptions for this or that special case. It increases the burden on the rest and gives the impression that some groups are somehow more special than others. Everyone working in a country benefits from the services and structures which taxes pay for. A pick'n'mix approach to taxes feeds into a "taxes are only for the little people" feeling which is behind much of the discontent fuelling politics these days.
It’s very distinctive - you basically can’t smell anything. I just tried lemon, coffee, sourdough bread, a reed diffuser. Nada
It’s not nice coz it makes food tasteless, for a start
When a big trade win is reported as a failure of immigration by a two tier anti-white racist government by a party of racists the game should be up for Morgan McSweeney.
Daniel Hannan
@DanielJHannan
The criticisms of the India FTA are based on a series of misunderstandings.
...
🔵In short, instead of carping, Conservatives should take credit for having initiated this important work, and congratulate
@jreynoldsMP for completing it.
https://x.com/DanielJHannan/status/1919828966762021130
@Sean_F - much as we all love him - was NOT on tv/radio this morning saying “actually the deal is OK”
Moreover, Farage might be right. There might be no cap put on numbers. We might see 100,000 Indian workers come over, and take British jobs because they’re cheaper
I’ve yet to see a government spokesman explain why this absolutely cannot happen. Which leads me to suspect it could happen - unless someone here knows better?
If that could happen - 100,000 Indians etc - the deal is another Labour disaster. Perhaps terminal
This is not a gotcha. It’s a sincere q. If you can explain it - thankyou. And if you can, the government should hire you ASAFP coz you’d clearly do a better job than them
Disclaimer: I barely have an opinion on the India trade deal.
Actually it's been worse than the 2 occasions we had covid and that is saying something
When you spend six months working in Thailand do you pay your tax in Blighty or Thailand?
Anyway I've got to go before the sun appears over the yardarm and you become tired and emotional.
Can’t you see how utterly stupid that sounds?
Offenders could face up to three months in prison and a £1,000 fine for desecrating the monument to Britain's wartime leader.
The Churchill statue is not officially classified as one of the UK's war memorials, but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper plans to add it to the list of statues and monuments which it will soon become a criminal offence to climb.
These will include the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, and many other famous structures across Britain commemorating the service of the armed forces in the First and Second World Wars.
The new law is contained in the flagship Crime and Policing Bill currently progressing through Parliament.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdded9rqd2do
If this is the best defence of the deal then it is indeed terrible. Strongly reminiscent of Blair’s “13,000 east Europeans”
Risking TMI, it's a great moment when the sense of smell comes back and for me, since I try and avoid obsessively sniffing things, that's when I pick up the aromatic evidence of farting in the bath.
You'd have thought there was only so sunny a day could be. Cloudless is cloudless. And you wouldn't have thought it was possible to be sunnier than a cloudless day in mid-June.
Mrs Foxy's sense of smell and taste never fully recovered from covid. She caught it in the Delta wave of autumn 2020. She can taste and smell, but definitely not so well.
He sees the rationality of a free trade deal and not the optics of yet more migration
We need a good disruptor - someone like Javier Milei or Margaret Thatcher - to reverse our decline. Of course, turning a country around is a hugely complicated and difficult task, and the risk is that we get a terrible or incompetent disruptor like Liz Truss or Corbyn, but I think it's worth taking that risk.
Numerically there simply aren't that many metropolitan liberal types, which is why it's Reform who are leading the national polling and not the Greens.
She was Labour's underperforming candidate in East Wight in July, placing 4th in a seat some MRPs predicted as a Lab win.
It was the Indian government insisting on visas and Social security being part of a deal that was preventing previous versions from passing.. That may well not have been true for Chile etc.
Still a quite nice city, mind, with a lovely hinterland. Very liveable I imagine. But much more in the way of humdrum suburbs than other cathedral cities I know better like Chester or York.
Clouds, eh?
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to still buy their nonsense.
https://youtu.be/46xMxRyg7eM?t=78
2029 hasn't even got out of bed yet.
And in other news, Ukrainians have claimed that two SU-30s have been shot down in the last week by unmanned sea drones.
I hope you’re right because it is freaky and doubleplusungood
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsmanchester/former-mp-mike-amesbury-speaks-out-after-reform-win-his-former-seat/ar-AA1Ef4KT?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=b79677599d214b1cb72d5ae12d6c3c4f&ei=17
Also says he's never punched anyone before in his life. Which I'm prepared to take at face value with only the minor comment that he doesn't look like someone who's only ever thrown one punch in his life. But faces can be misleading.
Ref 345
Lab 143
LD 71
SNP 38
Con 23
Grn 4
PC 4
What was said beforehand?
https://x.com/LukeTryl/status/1920015225333370996
Gives Reform 276 seats, so most seats but 50 short of a majority
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=N&CON=21&LAB=23&LIB=15&Reform=27&Green=7&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=&SCOTLAB=&SCOTLIB=&SCOTReform=&SCOTGreen=&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2024base
Harrow East, Ruislip, Uxbridge, Chingford, Hendon, Croydon South, Epping Forest,
East Grinstead, Reigate, Hamble Valley, Runnymede, Windsor, Hertsmere, Beaconsfield, Earley&Woodley,
Somerset N, Monmouthshire, Solihull W, Sutton Coldfield,
Stone, Leicester E, Middlesbrough S, Berwickshire
Ukraine the Latest report. They say one by Magura 7 sea drone using a sidewinder missile with video, and one over occupied territory.
https://youtu.be/8exzjOqv0vY?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVCYlsANGtNkzMeM9Fdmqzxr&t=438
Government and opposition trying to make out there’s any consequential points from this mere inconsequential memorandum of understanding is silly.