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London 2028 and beyond – politicalbetting.com

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  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    I'm amazed by all these people who have never come across the word 'Edgelord'. Surely it's been used here dozens of times, for years? I've just done a quick search on Vanilla, and I can find 51 posts before today - going back as far as Vanilla goes, which I think is to 2021 - which include the word. Now that's not as many as the word "Wick", for example, or "Radiohead", but hardly obscure.

    https://vf.politicalbetting.com/search?Page=&Search=edgelord

    Edgelords get on my wick, FWIW :wink:

    I won't comment on Radiohead, due to fearing the banhammer (and also, actually, being fairly agnostic on them).
    That was the actual point Chiles made in his article, in a rather more subtle way. Which strangely no-one commenting on it seems to have picked up on.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 65,601
    kinabalu said:

    Nigelb said:

    Trump: Putin actually said to me, ‘If you don’t mind, friend, I hate to see you as my enemy.’ He said it very strongly. I had a very good relationship with Putin. I had a very good relationship with President Xi. A very good relationship with Kim Jong Un
    https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1930377901683122513

    He's sounding increasingly down about life. Makes you want to reach out and give him a little cuddle.
    Steady on !!!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 19,066
    edited June 5
    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    Apparently, as I discovered when refreshing my memory, it was the last place in England to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    edited June 5
    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    The fact the PB Centrist dads all admire the writing of..... Adrian Chiles.... is just DELICIOUSLY perfect

    Perhaps they are comparing his writing to yours? I've read both and though not a fan of either his are more original.
    I disagree. Sean Thomas in the Spectator is another writer with a regular column who has interesting things to say, in my view.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 35,387
    Because he was white. If he hadn't been, they wouldn't have released the information.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,341
    FF43 said:

    Selebian said:

    Cookie said:

    I'm amazed by all these people who have never come across the word 'Edgelord'. Surely it's been used here dozens of times, for years? I've just done a quick search on Vanilla, and I can find 51 posts before today - going back as far as Vanilla goes, which I think is to 2021 - which include the word. Now that's not as many as the word "Wick", for example, or "Radiohead", but hardly obscure.

    https://vf.politicalbetting.com/search?Page=&Search=edgelord

    Edgelords get on my wick, FWIW :wink:

    I won't comment on Radiohead, due to fearing the banhammer (and also, actually, being fairly agnostic on them).
    That was the actual point Chiles made in his article, in a rather more subtle way. Which strangely no-one commenting on it seems to have picked up on.
    Are you thinking that anyone commenting on it has actually read the article? :open_mouth:
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 55,014

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    Apparently, as I discovered when refreshing my memory, it was the last place in England to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
    You can understand why they might be a bit less forgiving and a bit more Breixty than most then!
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    edited June 5
    Andy_JS said:

    Because he was white. If he hadn't been, they wouldn't have released the information.
    Undoubtedly. Why that is the case should cause introspection in some of the louder parts of political commentary, but obviously won't.

    "Actually he wasn't brown, a refugee or a Muslim, so you can lay off the racist incitement this time" is the reason why the police released the information.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 66,135

    Nigelb said:

    Trump: Putin actually said to me, ‘If you don’t mind, friend, I hate to see you as my enemy.’ He said it very strongly. I had a very good relationship with Putin. I had a very good relationship with President Xi. A very good relationship with Kim Jong Un
    https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1930377901683122513

    He'd like Zelenskyy more if he were a corrupt dictator. That's the type of person the President of America admires.
    He is basically fully in l'etat ca moi mode now. Everything to do with statecraft is about his personal feelings and relationship with the foreign leader in question. I doubt he even glances at the diplomatic reports that pass his desk. And of course relationship being good in his worldview is indicated by being given gifts or offered some deal or other.

  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 66,135

    ‪Shashank Joshi‬
    @shashj.bsky.social‬

    @tomnuttall.bsky.social writes on Germany's military revival. 'Soldiers marvel at the esteem they now encounter in daily life. “Sometimes when I’m on the street people stop me to say, ‘Thank you for your service’—like in America!” exclaims one cadet officer.'

    https://bsky.app/profile/shashj.bsky.social/post/3lqu6crxsrc2b
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    Apparently, as I discovered when refreshing my memory, it was the last place in England to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
    You can understand why they might be a bit less forgiving and a bit more Breixty than most then!
    No-one who is alive in Frinton now would have been there in 1944.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,667

    HYUFD said:

    Amongst voters as a whole Johnson is seen as the best bet for the Tories, though amongst current Tory voters Cameron is most respected.


    'When asked who they thought would do a good job as leader of the Conservatives in the future, Mr Johnson polled best but with a score of just 28%. This was better than Reform’s Mr Farage (25%), former foreign secretary James Cleverly (20%), Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick (18%), Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel (14%) and former home secretary Suella Braverman (12%).

    Among current Conservative supporters, there is high regard for former PM Mr Cameron. More than three in four (76%) think he did a good job – a higher rating than that enjoyed by Rishi Sunak (71%), Mr Johnson (69%), Mrs May (56%) and Ms Truss (8%).'
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2064463/boris-johnson-reform-uk-poll

    Cameron - a good job? He fucked up the Referendum timing, then with his disastrous "renegotiation" followed by his toddler tantrum when people doubted its value. Then pissed off the moment his Referendum went against him - despite saying he would not.

    The bar for doing a good job must have sunk towards the ground through May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and Starmer if people think that was a "good job".
    I think Cameron did a goodish job 2010-2015 and was 'unlucky' that the Tory campaign decimated the Lib Dems. Had there had to be a second coalition there would have be no referendum in 2016 and we might all be a bit happier. (Or not - the EU would still be a festering sore on British politics - add in the vaccine scandal that would have arisen in 2020).

    As for leaving after the Brexit vote - he had to. He had tied himself to the mast of remain and lost. His authority was gone. If he had been neutral and said that he would do as 'instructed, whether leave or remain' then he could have carried on. But he didn't.
    There was plenty of evidence the Conservatives were working LD seats very hard from 2012 onwards (Clegg knew about it) but he couldn't or wouldn't abandon the Coalition. He thought the consequences of walking away would be electorally more damaging than the consequences of staying in - don't see how they could have been much worse.

    The other thing which sunk the LDs in 2015 was the prospect of a minority Labour Government dependent on the SNP for support and the price of that support being either a second refrendum on or actual Scottish Independence. Faced with the prospect of the UK possibly breaking up, the Unionist English rallied to the main Unionist party and the LDs were annihilated.

    Nine years on, the world looks very different.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,251


    ‪Shashank Joshi‬
    @shashj.bsky.social‬

    @tomnuttall.bsky.social writes on Germany's military revival. 'Soldiers marvel at the esteem they now encounter in daily life. “Sometimes when I’m on the street people stop me to say, ‘Thank you for your service’—like in America!” exclaims one cadet officer.'

    https://bsky.app/profile/shashj.bsky.social/post/3lqu6crxsrc2b

    Watch out Paris.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    Apparently, as I discovered when refreshing my memory, it was the last place in England to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
    You can understand why they might be a bit less forgiving and a bit more Breixty than most then!
    Surely the opposite. Being attacked by the Lufftewaffe would presumably make them very wary of Nazis.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 45,557

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986

    Nigelb said:

    Trump: Putin actually said to me, ‘If you don’t mind, friend, I hate to see you as my enemy.’ He said it very strongly. I had a very good relationship with Putin. I had a very good relationship with President Xi. A very good relationship with Kim Jong Un
    https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1930377901683122513

    He'd like Zelenskyy more if he were a corrupt dictator. That's the type of person the President of America admires.
    He is basically fully in l'etat ca moi mode now. Everything to do with statecraft is about his personal feelings and relationship with the foreign leader in question. I doubt he even glances at the diplomatic reports that pass his desk. And of course relationship being good in his worldview is indicated by being given gifts or offered some deal or other.

    Trump urges Senate to postpone vote on Russia sanctions bill, Senator says
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-urges-senate-postpone-vote-233634666.html
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,505
    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    Starmer gets support from LDs, Greens, SNP and PC supporters in a head-to-head with Farage.
    Worth noting.

    That's a much better predictor of the next General Election, in my view.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    Apparently, as I discovered when refreshing my memory, it was the last place in England to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
    You can understand why they might be a bit less forgiving and a bit more Breixty than most then!
    Surely the opposite. Being attacked by the Lufftewaffe would presumably make them very wary of Nazis.
    "Ryanair have won ‘the most unpopular airline’ trophy 6 years in a row. If they retain it again next year, they'll break the record set by the Luftwaffe."
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 35,387
    edited June 5
    Pleased I've stumbled across the Graham Cunningham blogsite. The most interesting writer/essayist I've discovered recently.

    https://grahamcunningham.substack.com
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,630
    edited June 5
    FF43 said:

    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    The fact the PB Centrist dads all admire the writing of..... Adrian Chiles.... is just DELICIOUSLY perfect

    Perhaps they are comparing his writing to yours? I've read both and though not a fan of either his are more original.
    I disagree. Sean Thomas in the Spectator is another writer with a regular column who has interesting things to say, in my view.
    Sean Thomas? I read a paragraph and a sign comes up asking for money. I can't think of anything I'm less likely to subscribe to than 'The Spectator'.

    I was judging by one book and half a million posts on here. Too lacking in wit and insight for my taste. I try to encourage copywriter friends to come on here who invariably have both but few are interested in politics
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,482

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    Starmer gets support from LDs, Greens, SNP and PC supporters in a head-to-head with Farage.
    Worth noting.

    That's a much better predictor of the next General Election, in my view.
    No chance Starmer fights the next election in my view
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,482
    edited June 5
    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    As is happening in the USA now.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,960

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,667

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    Starmer gets support from LDs, Greens, SNP and PC supporters in a head-to-head with Farage.
    Worth noting.

    That's a much better predictor of the next General Election, in my view.
    We're starting to see a new duopoly emerge - the last poll had 56% voting Reform or Labour. That's the number I'll be watching.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,805
    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    Hope you got away with it.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035
    Y
    '
    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    Heavens to Betsy!
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 35,387
    edited June 5
    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488
  • isamisam Posts: 41,960
    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    Farage asked whether the perpetrator was known to the authorities. It turns out the perpetrator had slipped through the net despite being referred to Prevent. Why are people so keen to smear Farage? All it does is give us the chance to show he was right
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035
    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    It would be very funny if Reform don't win in Nigels back yard. I wonder if the residual Lab and LD are tempted by the rarely seen Tory tactical vote?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920
    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    It was in the pub, wasn't it? Seem to remember something about it. Used to have to meetings in Clacton back in the 70's-80's.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 27,631
    Without reading that, is this not obvious?

    (Will now read.)
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,866
    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Good to see Boris really made an effort to smarten up.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920
    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Doesn't Boris look dreadful. Old and scruffy.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,044
    DavidL said:

    First?

    Rants against the modern world. My MIL died in January. SSE are now threatening to cut her off.
    They have sent a letter saying "please get in touch if you need help"
    No phone number.
    Go on their website and they say that the customer number on their letter is too short.
    Chat has an option of speak to an advisor. When you click on it you can go back or close. No other options.
    Advising re bereavement is an option but nothing happens.

    We are changing our account.

    When my Mum died recently I had a bot at National Savings empathising with me for my loss. I was not impressed. A bot ffs....
  • isamisam Posts: 41,960

    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    It was in the pub, wasn't it? Seem to remember something about it. Used to have to meetings in Clacton back in the 70's-80's.
    It was worse than I remembered. A policeman was shot dead


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Brian_Bishop
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 35,387

    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Doesn't Boris look dreadful. Old and scruffy.
    He looks 10 years older than the last time I saw him.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920
    The Frinton seat is a twofold contest apparently. One seat on District Council, the other on Town. Same boundaries.
    However there are five candidates for the District Council seat, Tory, Reform, Lab, LD and Green, but on four for the Town Council one. The LD's aren't fighting it.
    I wonder why.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    .
    isam said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    Farage asked whether the perpetrator was known to the authorities. It turns out the perpetrator had slipped through the net despite being referred to Prevent. Why are people so keen to smear Farage? All it does is give us the chance to show he was right
    As I said:

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday admitted to spreading misinformation following the tragic knife attack in Southport that resulted in the deaths of three young girls.


    The incident has since sparked widespread violence and riots across England and Northern Ireland.

    Farage, known for his outspoken political views, posted a video online shortly after the attack, in which he speculated on the background of the killer.


    He had said "some reports suggest he was known to the security services," a claim that has now been proven false.

    The misinformation, originating from various online sources, quickly spread, leading to violent scenes at a vigil held for the three children.

    These events further escalated into several days of unrest and riots across the country.

    During an appearance on LBC, Farage defended his actions by asserting his intent to uncover "the truth."

    He explained: "There were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings - Andrew Tate etc - suggesting the man had crossed the English Channel in a boat in October 2023. Other suggestions that he was an active Muslim, and much of this led to the riots that we saw. I asked a very simple question - was this person known or not."

    However, LBC presenter Tom Swarbrick challenged Farage’s defense, pointing out the sources of his information.

    "Nigel Farage, you didn’t just do that, did you? You said some reports suggest he was known to the security services. Those reports were from a fake news website amplified by Russian state TV and, as you mentioned, Andrew Tate. Which ones were you looking at?" Swarbrick queried.

    Farage responded: "Which adds to what I was asking for - give us some clarity. I could have said ’some reports suggest he crossed the Channel last October. Some reports suggest he was an active Muslim. I did none of those things. What I asked for was clarity. We didn’t get clarity, and I would argue that what happened in Southport would not have been of the same magnitude had the truth been told very, very quickly.
    "

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/nigel-farage-admits-to-spreading-misinformation-after-southport-knife-attack/3297939
  • isamisam Posts: 41,960
    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Giles Watling aka the vicar from Bread who dated Aveline
  • AugustusCarp2AugustusCarp2 Posts: 351
    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Doesn't Boris look dreadful. Old and scruffy.
    He looks 10 years older than the last time I saw him.
    That's actually rather shocking.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 45,557
    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    That's the problem, yes. Release the info - you risk an outbreak of indiscriminate racist violence. Don't release it - you get an outbreak of "two tier" whinging and the racist cause is emboldened.

    Glad I'm only commenting on this rather than having to decide what's best.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,666
    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    I actually think it's grimly amusing that they released the ethnicity of the Liverpool driver rather than just saying "this is not a terrorist attack" as was obvious from the videos. It sort of gave the impression that a white person doing this means it isn't terrorism.

    Now, it could be argued that the knuckle draggers wouldn't care if it was terrorism or not, but I suspect motive and victims does matter. When the news is reporting that three young girls have been stabbed to death at a dance class, that is going to get the juices flowing a lot more than a car running Liverpool fans over.

    Perhaps those riots would have happened anyway, but I think the big mistake was the police saying it wasn't terrorism. If they wanted to say that early on, they had to tell us why it wasn't terrorism. And if they can't do that (personally, I think it was won't rather than a can't), treat it as a terrorist attack. It doesn't mean you have to charge anyone with terrorism. Saying the premeditated murder of girls at a dance class isn't terrorism straight off the bat looks awfully like a cover up.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035

    The Frinton seat is a twofold contest apparently. One seat on District Council, the other on Town. Same boundaries.
    However there are five candidates for the District Council seat, Tory, Reform, Lab, LD and Green, but on four for the Town Council one. The LD's aren't fighting it.
    I wonder why.

    They didn't fight the District seat in 2023. Limited local presence i guess
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,920
    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Doesn't Boris look dreadful. Old and scruffy.
    He looks 10 years older than the last time I saw him.
    It's all that child care.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,630

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    I'm not at all surprised. I would see you as his perfect target market
  • MattWMattW Posts: 27,631
    edited June 5

    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Good to see Boris really made an effort to smarten up.
    Best beloved, do not place yourself in a position where, at the age of 60, you have four children under the age of 5.
  • The Frinton seat is a twofold contest apparently. One seat on District Council, the other on Town. Same boundaries.
    However there are five candidates for the District Council seat, Tory, Reform, Lab, LD and Green, but on four for the Town Council one. The LD's aren't fighting it.
    I wonder why.

    Must be that their District Candidate does not qualify to serve on the town council, so from outside the town council area. You always put your candidate into both seats if you can as there is a section of the electorate which will come out to vote for a parish election and vote for the district (the only one you are interested in really) and vote for him there as well.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 66,135

    Andy_JS said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Boris has made a short video urging people to vote Tory in Frinton. The candidate is the wife of the former MP for Clacton.

    https://x.com/GilesWatling/status/1930012043173605488

    Doesn't Boris look dreadful. Old and scruffy.
    He looks 10 years older than the last time I saw him.
    It's all that child care.
    Counting money can be back breaking work sometimes.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    Lucy Connolly is an unpleasant individual but she isn't two-faced, unlike the main inciter to violence Nigel Farage, who chooses his words carefully and "only asks the legitimate questions". As a result Connolly is serving a long prison sentence while Farage gets maximum exposure on TV. That really is unfair.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,551
    FF43 said:

    .

    isam said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    Farage asked whether the perpetrator was known to the authorities. It turns out the perpetrator had slipped through the net despite being referred to Prevent. Why are people so keen to smear Farage? All it does is give us the chance to show he was right
    As I said:

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday admitted to spreading misinformation following the tragic knife attack in Southport that resulted in the deaths of three young girls.


    The incident has since sparked widespread violence and riots across England and Northern Ireland.

    Farage, known for his outspoken political views, posted a video online shortly after the attack, in which he speculated on the background of the killer.


    He had said "some reports suggest he was known to the security services," a claim that has now been proven false.

    The misinformation, originating from various online sources, quickly spread, leading to violent scenes at a vigil held for the three children.

    These events further escalated into several days of unrest and riots across the country.

    During an appearance on LBC, Farage defended his actions by asserting his intent to uncover "the truth."

    He explained: "There were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings - Andrew Tate etc - suggesting the man had crossed the English Channel in a boat in October 2023. Other suggestions that he was an active Muslim, and much of this led to the riots that we saw. I asked a very simple question - was this person known or not."

    However, LBC presenter Tom Swarbrick challenged Farage’s defense, pointing out the sources of his information.

    "Nigel Farage, you didn’t just do that, did you? You said some reports suggest he was known to the security services. Those reports were from a fake news website amplified by Russian state TV and, as you mentioned, Andrew Tate. Which ones were you looking at?" Swarbrick queried.

    Farage responded: "Which adds to what I was asking for - give us some clarity. I could have said ’some reports suggest he crossed the Channel last October. Some reports suggest he was an active Muslim. I did none of those things. What I asked for was clarity. We didn’t get clarity, and I would argue that what happened in Southport would not have been of the same magnitude had the truth been told very, very quickly.
    "

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/nigel-farage-admits-to-spreading-misinformation-after-southport-knife-attack/3297939
    Lol, what kind of serious politician aspiring to hold the most important job in the country would tout Andrew Tate as a reliable source of information? Farage is a slippery snake, stirring up hatred while blaming these vile anti-immigrant pogroms on the authorities rather than the low-lifes who carried them out.
  • AugustusCarp2AugustusCarp2 Posts: 351

    The Frinton seat is a twofold contest apparently. One seat on District Council, the other on Town. Same boundaries.
    However there are five candidates for the District Council seat, Tory, Reform, Lab, LD and Green, but on four for the Town Council one. The LD's aren't fighting it.
    I wonder why.

    Must be that their District Candidate does not qualify to serve on the town council, so from outside the town council area. You always put your candidate into both seats if you can as there is a section of the electorate which will come out to vote for a parish election and vote for the district (the only one you are interested in really) and vote for him there as well.
    If the boundaries are identical then it will be a useful experiment to see which way the Lib Dem vote breaks. Counting tomorrow morning, I understand.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,602

    DavidL said:

    First?

    Rants against the modern world. My MIL died in January. SSE are now threatening to cut her off.
    They have sent a letter saying "please get in touch if you need help"
    No phone number.
    Go on their website and they say that the customer number on their letter is too short.
    Chat has an option of speak to an advisor. When you click on it you can go back or close. No other options.
    Advising re bereavement is an option but nothing happens.

    We are changing our account.

    When my Mum died recently I had a bot at National Savings empathising with me for my loss. I was not impressed. A bot ffs....
    Any scripted empathy from people or bots who are only talking with you in the first place because they're paid to do so is more than faintly nauseating.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 14,570
    Andy_JS said:

    Because he was white. If he hadn't been, they wouldn't have released the information.
    The article explores these issues in some depth. That's why I offered it to the community here.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,551

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,960
    edited June 5
    FF43 said:

    .

    isam said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    Farage asked whether the perpetrator was known to the authorities. It turns out the perpetrator had slipped through the net despite being referred to Prevent. Why are people so keen to smear Farage? All it does is give us the chance to show he was right
    As I said:

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday admitted to spreading misinformation following the tragic knife attack in Southport that resulted in the deaths of three young girls.


    The incident has since sparked widespread violence and riots across England and Northern Ireland.

    Farage, known for his outspoken political views, posted a video online shortly after the attack, in which he speculated on the background of the killer.


    He had said "some reports suggest he was known to the security services," a claim that has now been proven false.

    The misinformation, originating from various online sources, quickly spread, leading to violent scenes at a vigil held for the three children.

    These events further escalated into several days of unrest and riots across the country.

    During an appearance on LBC, Farage defended his actions by asserting his intent to uncover "the truth."

    He explained: "There were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings - Andrew Tate etc - suggesting the man had crossed the English Channel in a boat in October 2023. Other suggestions that he was an active Muslim, and much of this led to the riots that we saw. I asked a very simple question - was this person known or not."

    However, LBC presenter Tom Swarbrick challenged Farage’s defense, pointing out the sources of his information.

    "Nigel Farage, you didn’t just do that, did you? You said some reports suggest he was known to the security services. Those reports were from a fake news website amplified by Russian state TV and, as you mentioned, Andrew Tate. Which ones were you looking at?" Swarbrick queried.

    Farage responded: "Which adds to what I was asking for - give us some clarity. I could have said ’some reports suggest he crossed the Channel last October. Some reports suggest he was an active Muslim. I did none of those things. What I asked for was clarity. We didn’t get clarity, and I would argue that what happened in Southport would not have been of the same magnitude had the truth been told very, very quickly.
    "

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/nigel-farage-admits-to-spreading-misinformation-after-southport-knife-attack/3297939
    “He had said "some reports suggest he was known to the security services," a claim that has now been proven false.”

    Rudakabana was known to the security services
  • MattWMattW Posts: 27,631
    FF43 said:

    Lucy Connolly is an unpleasant individual but she isn't two-faced, unlike the main inciter to violence Nigel Farage, who chooses his words carefully and "only asks the legitimate questions". As a result Connolly is serving a long prison sentence while Farage gets maximum exposure on TV. That really is unfair.

    I think she's due out (ie eligible for release on license) around August to October, based on 40% of 31 months, which is 12.4 months. I'm not sure how time already served at the point of sentence exactly counts in this case.
  • eekeek Posts: 30,224

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    That’s the thing after 13 years of no money - councils really do watch every penny.

    The idea that there are major cost savings that can be legally made hasn’t been the case for nearly a decade
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    tlg86 said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    I actually think it's grimly amusing that they released the ethnicity of the Liverpool driver rather than just saying "this is not a terrorist attack" as was obvious from the videos. It sort of gave the impression that a white person doing this means it isn't terrorism.

    Now, it could be argued that the knuckle draggers wouldn't care if it was terrorism or not, but I suspect motive and victims does matter. When the news is reporting that three young girls have been stabbed to death at a dance class, that is going to get the juices flowing a lot more than a car running Liverpool fans over.

    Perhaps those riots would have happened anyway, but I think the big mistake was the police saying it wasn't terrorism. If they wanted to say that early on, they had to tell us why it wasn't terrorism. And if they can't do that (personally, I think it was won't rather than a can't), treat it as a terrorist attack. It doesn't mean you have to charge anyone with terrorism. Saying the premeditated murder of girls at a dance class isn't terrorism straight off the bat looks awfully like a cover up.
    It's not grimly amusing. These guys on the far right don't need this to be a terrorist attack or the perpetrator actually to be non-white to kick off their misinformation.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,909
    Nigelb said:

    Trump: Putin actually said to me, ‘If you don’t mind, friend, I hate to see you as my enemy.’ He said it very strongly. I had a very good relationship with Putin. I had a very good relationship with President Xi. A very good relationship with Kim Jong Un
    https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1930377901683122513

    A man is known by the company he keeps.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 65,601
    edited June 5
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    I'm not at all surprised. I would see you as his perfect target market
    You really are stupid aren't you

    Maybe if you read my posts you would see my utter rejection of Farage and all he stands for

    I expect most of our fellow posters would have a similar experience of Farage supporters to me, but then as I said you need to get out more and you will also find Farage supporters

  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035
    edited June 5

    The Frinton seat is a twofold contest apparently. One seat on District Council, the other on Town. Same boundaries.
    However there are five candidates for the District Council seat, Tory, Reform, Lab, LD and Green, but on four for the Town Council one. The LD's aren't fighting it.
    I wonder why.

    Must be that their District Candidate does not qualify to serve on the town council, so from outside the town council area. You always put your candidate into both seats if you can as there is a section of the electorate which will come out to vote for a parish election and vote for the district (the only one you are interested in really) and vote for him there as well.
    If the boundaries are identical then it will be a useful experiment to see which way the Lib Dem vote breaks. Counting tomorrow morning, I understand.
    LDs have only stood in Frinton once in 20 years, they got 6% in 2019. I think there will be limited interest in them unless the Tendring First indies are inclined to LDs as they've disappeared and got 31% last time and have been the main opposition to Tories here including during UKIPs pomp

    Edit- Tendring First were Tory splitters
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,091
    kinabalu said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    That's the problem, yes. Release the info - you risk an outbreak of indiscriminate racist violence. Don't release it - you get an outbreak of "two tier" whinging and the racist cause is emboldened.

    Glad I'm only commenting on this rather than having to decide what's best.
    Me too.

    I don't think people trying to do the right thing in difficult circumstances get the support they need from those that should be giving it.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 27,631
    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/04/ive-learned-a-new-word-and-now-im-seeing-the-people-it-describes-everywhere

    People were slagging Adrian Chiles's columns a while back. I've always enjoyed his writing TBH and this week's column is especially good. I even learned something useful from it.

    Very good article, and a very useful word.
    Have people on here really not heard 'edgelord' before? I'm pretty sure it was in circulation when I was at university a couple of decades ago. I'm sure I've seen people use the term on here, too (we have plenty of our own!).
    Edgelord was a thing when USENET ruled and HTML was just a dream.
    Indeed it was.

    All those posters that pretended to like Emacs were definitely Edgelords.
    This was a long time ago, some time/several letters before the iMacs, right? :wink:
    I had one friend at University who wrote his own text editor for a BBC Micro, then used his text editor to write his final year project report.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,350

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 10,883
    edited June 5

    Sitting here in Lanarkshire chatting to my team about the byelection. I think the 5/1 on Reform is not a bad bet. There is a mood change which has led to SNP voters going underground and Reform being very visible. The Labour candidate is not up to the job and will lose many votes. SNP closing the neo natal unit at Wishaw is a local event that will upset some. This is possibly the most winnable seat for Reform in the whole of Scotland. Larkhall is core bear territory and they hate Humza who is still around destroying the SNP vote every time he talks. No student or immigrant vote to speak of. The Reform candidate a decent guy and Orange Order. Lots of publicity on the by election will help Reform as non voters more likely to support them.

    The other bet is SNP getting less than 30% which again is quite possible even if they win the seat. Feel it will be close.



    Thanks for the insight - but I can't see how a Labour collapse + Orange Order candidate can outweigh SNP unpopularity.

    A very close result or even a Reform win will really sharpen minds in Scotland. It's a disaster for Labour either way, and I think PBers should consider how many of those 37 Westminster seats Labour will retain - I'd guess less than 10 at the moment.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    DOGE wasn't looking in the right places. Instead it was pursuing a political agenda where any money saved was at best a secondary consideration.

    Stuff like firing the COVID commissioners pursuing fraudulent loans from the pandemic, and the gutting of the IRS probably cost the government tens of billions.

    Reducing waste without gutting services is unflashy politically, and is the work of years not weeks.

    From my own anecdotal knowledge, I'm pretty sure there's still waste in local government, but after the multiple reorganisations, there is far less fat to cut.

    Far more fruitful, IMO, would be to concentrate on doing what they can to enable economic growth.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,666
    edited June 5
    FF43 said:

    tlg86 said:

    FF43 said:

    kinabalu said:

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    You're agreeing with the article. It says that was the reason.
    I think there is a difficulty with this. The bigger problem the police are trying prevent is racially motivated violence incited by Farage and his followers. There isn't an equivalent problem on the other side. So they can hopefully nip that violence in the bud by establishing the perpetrator as white before Farage starts "asking his legitimate questions"

    Issue is, sooner or later one of these perpetrators will turn out to be brown, Muslim or a refugee. Then the police doesn't have a good choice between releasing or not releasing the ethnicity of the perpetrator.
    I actually think it's grimly amusing that they released the ethnicity of the Liverpool driver rather than just saying "this is not a terrorist attack" as was obvious from the videos. It sort of gave the impression that a white person doing this means it isn't terrorism.

    Now, it could be argued that the knuckle draggers wouldn't care if it was terrorism or not, but I suspect motive and victims does matter. When the news is reporting that three young girls have been stabbed to death at a dance class, that is going to get the juices flowing a lot more than a car running Liverpool fans over.

    Perhaps those riots would have happened anyway, but I think the big mistake was the police saying it wasn't terrorism. If they wanted to say that early on, they had to tell us why it wasn't terrorism. And if they can't do that (personally, I think it was won't rather than a can't), treat it as a terrorist attack. It doesn't mean you have to charge anyone with terrorism. Saying the premeditated murder of girls at a dance class isn't terrorism straight off the bat looks awfully like a cover up.

    It's not grimly amusing. These guys on the far right don't need this to be a terrorist attack or the perpetrator actually to be non-white to kick off their misinformation.
    So why say anything about race at all? If rioters are going to riot if the perpetrator isn’t even non-white?

    I’d have thought the best thing to say about Liverpool is that it wasn’t a terrorist attack (as they did for Southport - wrongly, in my view).
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986
    Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2
    A major hurdle to curing HIV is the persistence of integrated proviruses in resting CD4+ T cells that remain in a transcriptionally silent, latent state. One strategy to eradicate latent HIV is to activate viral transcription, followed by elimination of infected cells through virus-mediated cytotoxicity or immune-mediated clearance. We hypothesised that mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology would provide an opportunity to deliver mRNA encoding proteins able to reverse HIV latency in resting CD4+ T cells. Here we develop an LNP formulation (LNP X) with unprecedented potency to deliver mRNA to hard-to-transfect resting CD4+ T cells in the absence of cellular toxicity or activation. Encapsulating an mRNA encoding the HIV Tat protein, an activator of HIV transcription, LNP X enhances HIV transcription in ex vivo CD4+ T cells from people living with HIV. LNP X further enables the delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) activation machinery to modulate both viral and host gene transcription. These findings offer potential for the development of a range of nucleic acid-based T cell therapeutics...

    This is exciting stuff.
    Apart from potential pathway to curing AIDS, it promises a entire new therapeutic platform.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 66,135
    Nigelb said:

    Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2
    A major hurdle to curing HIV is the persistence of integrated proviruses in resting CD4+ T cells that remain in a transcriptionally silent, latent state. One strategy to eradicate latent HIV is to activate viral transcription, followed by elimination of infected cells through virus-mediated cytotoxicity or immune-mediated clearance. We hypothesised that mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology would provide an opportunity to deliver mRNA encoding proteins able to reverse HIV latency in resting CD4+ T cells. Here we develop an LNP formulation (LNP X) with unprecedented potency to deliver mRNA to hard-to-transfect resting CD4+ T cells in the absence of cellular toxicity or activation. Encapsulating an mRNA encoding the HIV Tat protein, an activator of HIV transcription, LNP X enhances HIV transcription in ex vivo CD4+ T cells from people living with HIV. LNP X further enables the delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) activation machinery to modulate both viral and host gene transcription. These findings offer potential for the development of a range of nucleic acid-based T cell therapeutics...

    This is exciting stuff.
    Apart from potential pathway to curing AIDS, it promises a entire new therapeutic platform.

    I'm sure RFK Jr will seek to put a stop to this.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,482
    Nigelb said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    DOGE wasn't looking in the right places. Instead it was pursuing a political agenda where any money saved was at best a secondary consideration.

    Stuff like firing the COVID commissioners pursuing fraudulent loans from the pandemic, and the gutting of the IRS probably cost the government tens of billions.

    Reducing waste without gutting services is unflashy politically, and is the work of years not weeks.

    From my own anecdotal knowledge, I'm pretty sure there's still waste in local government, but after the multiple reorganisations, there is far less fat to cut.

    Far more fruitful, IMO, would be to concentrate on doing what they can to enable economic growth.
    The thing is no organisation is ever perfectly lean because humans are imperfect and resources are not quick to gather so you have to have some fat in order to flex
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986

    Nigelb said:

    Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2
    A major hurdle to curing HIV is the persistence of integrated proviruses in resting CD4+ T cells that remain in a transcriptionally silent, latent state. One strategy to eradicate latent HIV is to activate viral transcription, followed by elimination of infected cells through virus-mediated cytotoxicity or immune-mediated clearance. We hypothesised that mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology would provide an opportunity to deliver mRNA encoding proteins able to reverse HIV latency in resting CD4+ T cells. Here we develop an LNP formulation (LNP X) with unprecedented potency to deliver mRNA to hard-to-transfect resting CD4+ T cells in the absence of cellular toxicity or activation. Encapsulating an mRNA encoding the HIV Tat protein, an activator of HIV transcription, LNP X enhances HIV transcription in ex vivo CD4+ T cells from people living with HIV. LNP X further enables the delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) activation machinery to modulate both viral and host gene transcription. These findings offer potential for the development of a range of nucleic acid-based T cell therapeutics...

    This is exciting stuff.
    Apart from potential pathway to curing AIDS, it promises a entire new therapeutic platform.

    I'm sure RFK Jr will seek to put a stop to this.
    Yes, mRNA is toxic to MAGA.

    Just bizarre.

    Fortunately this research is in Australia.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,667
    Nigelb said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    DOGE wasn't looking in the right places. Instead it was pursuing a political agenda where any money saved was at best a secondary consideration.

    Stuff like firing the COVID commissioners pursuing fraudulent loans from the pandemic, and the gutting of the IRS probably cost the government tens of billions.

    Reducing waste without gutting services is unflashy politically, and is the work of years not weeks.

    From my own anecdotal knowledge, I'm pretty sure there's still waste in local government, but after the multiple reorganisations, there is far less fat to cut.

    Far more fruitful, IMO, would be to concentrate on doing what they can to enable economic growth.
    No, far more useful would be to ensure they have adequate resources to deliver the services which they are statutorily required to provide.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986

    Nigelb said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    DOGE wasn't looking in the right places. Instead it was pursuing a political agenda where any money saved was at best a secondary consideration.

    Stuff like firing the COVID commissioners pursuing fraudulent loans from the pandemic, and the gutting of the IRS probably cost the government tens of billions.

    Reducing waste without gutting services is unflashy politically, and is the work of years not weeks.

    From my own anecdotal knowledge, I'm pretty sure there's still waste in local government, but after the multiple reorganisations, there is far less fat to cut.

    Far more fruitful, IMO, would be to concentrate on doing what they can to enable economic growth.
    The thing is no organisation is ever perfectly lean because humans are imperfect and resources are not quick to gather so you have to have some fat in order to flex
    Of course. But there's something of a straw man argument there.
    Organisations should always seek incremental improvements.

    That's not the Reform agenda though.
  • eekeek Posts: 30,224
    edited June 5

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 77,986
    stodge said:

    Nigelb said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    The US DOGE found almost nothing, and the US government has had a lot more money to waste than ours has in the last 15 years. Local government in particular has been stripped to the bone.
    DOGE wasn't looking in the right places. Instead it was pursuing a political agenda where any money saved was at best a secondary consideration.

    Stuff like firing the COVID commissioners pursuing fraudulent loans from the pandemic, and the gutting of the IRS probably cost the government tens of billions.

    Reducing waste without gutting services is unflashy politically, and is the work of years not weeks.

    From my own anecdotal knowledge, I'm pretty sure there's still waste in local government, but after the multiple reorganisations, there is far less fat to cut.

    Far more fruitful, IMO, would be to concentrate on doing what they can to enable economic growth.
    No, far more useful would be to ensure they have adequate resources to deliver the services which they are statutorily required to provide.
    Good luck with that.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 31,573
    ...
    Scott_xP said:

    @PippaCrerar

    NEW: Tories finally repudiate Liz Truss saying they will “never again” risk the economy with unfunded tax cuts like those her mini-budget.

    Shadow chancellor Mel Stride says: “The damage to our credibility is not so easily undone.”

    https://x.com/PippaCrerar/status/1930524397539930419

    Er, no. That's not 'The Tories' repudiating anything 'finally', it's Mel Stride rehashing his oft-repeated blue-on-blue Truss attack, rather than attacking the Labour Government.

    The man is an utterly useless waste of space.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 30,997

    We know why - they wanted to avoid race riots and the perp was white.

    Where the debate was - next time the perp is NOT white, what happens. And we already had a case in Leicester (not identical, but 'car' attacking people) where the perp's ethnicity was NOT reported.

    Clearly the police are doing their best, but to suggest that there is a new spirit of openness is false, in my eyes.
    The other factor is that Southport and Liverpool are the same place with the same police force. Leicester is somewhere else entirely.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 1,128
    eek said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
    I think there's an error in the original post, "and" not "or", "will cost more in the long run and cause services to degrade" as per austerity.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161

    ...

    Scott_xP said:

    @PippaCrerar

    NEW: Tories finally repudiate Liz Truss saying they will “never again” risk the economy with unfunded tax cuts like those her mini-budget.

    Shadow chancellor Mel Stride says: “The damage to our credibility is not so easily undone.”

    https://x.com/PippaCrerar/status/1930524397539930419

    Er, no. That's not 'The Tories' repudiating anything 'finally', it's Mel Stride rehashing his oft-repeated blue-on-blue Truss attack, rather than attacking the Labour Government.

    The man is an utterly useless waste of space.
    As I scrolled up PB on the Vanilla forum version, I thought to myself (before the name was visible) "that must be one of Lucky's posts".
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035
    edited June 5
    eek said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
    Indeed. Or what local services will you be upgrading or providing with the savings?
    The Tories ended up deeply hated
    Labour are becoming despised
    Reform aren't ready for the absolute visceral reaction their inevitable failure will bring.
  • SandraMcSandraMc Posts: 745
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    It was in the pub, wasn't it? Seem to remember something about it. Used to have to meetings in Clacton back in the 70's-80's.
    It was worse than I remembered. A policeman was shot dead


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Brian_Bishop
    To think that in the 80's someone I worked with was reprimanded in Frinton by a policeman for eating crisps in the street.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161

    HYUFD said:

    Amongst voters as a whole Johnson is seen as the best bet for the Tories, though amongst current Tory voters Cameron is most respected.


    'When asked who they thought would do a good job as leader of the Conservatives in the future, Mr Johnson polled best but with a score of just 28%. This was better than Reform’s Mr Farage (25%), former foreign secretary James Cleverly (20%), Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick (18%), Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel (14%) and former home secretary Suella Braverman (12%).

    Among current Conservative supporters, there is high regard for former PM Mr Cameron. More than three in four (76%) think he did a good job – a higher rating than that enjoyed by Rishi Sunak (71%), Mr Johnson (69%), Mrs May (56%) and Ms Truss (8%).'
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2064463/boris-johnson-reform-uk-poll

    Cameron - a good job? He fucked up the Referendum timing, then with his disastrous "renegotiation" followed by his toddler tantrum when people doubted its value. Then pissed off the moment his Referendum went against him - despite saying he would not.

    The bar for doing a good job must have sunk towards the ground through May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and Starmer if people think that was a "good job".
    You do Mr Cameron something of a disservice. His Coalition Government was probably one of the most successful post war Governments we have seen, austerity aside. Granted when he flew solo it all went a bit Pete Tong.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 19,066
    Nigelb said:

    Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60001-2
    A major hurdle to curing HIV is the persistence of integrated proviruses in resting CD4+ T cells that remain in a transcriptionally silent, latent state. One strategy to eradicate latent HIV is to activate viral transcription, followed by elimination of infected cells through virus-mediated cytotoxicity or immune-mediated clearance. We hypothesised that mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology would provide an opportunity to deliver mRNA encoding proteins able to reverse HIV latency in resting CD4+ T cells. Here we develop an LNP formulation (LNP X) with unprecedented potency to deliver mRNA to hard-to-transfect resting CD4+ T cells in the absence of cellular toxicity or activation. Encapsulating an mRNA encoding the HIV Tat protein, an activator of HIV transcription, LNP X enhances HIV transcription in ex vivo CD4+ T cells from people living with HIV. LNP X further enables the delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) activation machinery to modulate both viral and host gene transcription. These findings offer potential for the development of a range of nucleic acid-based T cell therapeutics...

    This is exciting stuff.
    Apart from potential pathway to curing AIDS, it promises a entire new therapeutic platform.

    But with the downside that you'll die from the delivery vector...

    (Clearly I'm joking, but you can bet JD Vance won't be!)
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,846

    eek said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
    Indeed. Or what local services will you be upgrading or providing with the savings?
    The Tories ended up deeply hated
    Labour are becoming despised
    Reform aren't ready for the absolute visceral reaction their inevitable failure will bring.
    I'm happy to bet a shiny sixpence that, whatever goes wrong in Kent, Nigel will come out of it smelling of roses.

    The councillors will get chucked in the pool full of genetically engineered piranhas, and Zia Yusuf might follow them, but who cares about them?
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,630

    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    I'm not at all surprised. I would see you as his perfect target market
    You really are stupid aren't you

    Maybe if you read my posts you would see my utter rejection of Farage and all he stands for

    I expect most of our fellow posters would have a similar experience of Farage supporters to me, but then as I said you need to get out more and you will also find Farage supporters

    People I mix with tend to be pretty cosmopolitan and non racist so short of on websites like this I think I'd be struggling. There are a few on here but they are of a type and happily in a smallish minority. Most Tory leaning Reform
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035

    eek said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
    Indeed. Or what local services will you be upgrading or providing with the savings?
    The Tories ended up deeply hated
    Labour are becoming despised
    Reform aren't ready for the absolute visceral reaction their inevitable failure will bring.
    I'm happy to bet a shiny sixpence that, whatever goes wrong in Kent, Nigel will come out of it smelling of roses.

    The councillors will get chucked in the pool full of genetically engineered piranhas, and Zia Yusuf might follow them, but who cares about them?
    He won't stay ahead of the rage for long. Patience has ended and no actual solutions are on offer from anyone.
    Burn it all down, everywhere.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161

    FF43 said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/04/ive-learned-a-new-word-and-now-im-seeing-the-people-it-describes-everywhere

    People were slagging Adrian Chiles's columns a while back. I've always enjoyed his writing TBH and this week's column is especially good. I even learned something useful from it.

    What's their objection to Adrian Chiles? I agree, a regular commentator who writes well and, unusually, almost always has something interesting to say.
    His added value as an ITV football commentator was near-zero.
    I have his head in hands book "We Don't Know What We Are Doing" about the trials and tribulations, the downs and even deeper downs of a life following the Baggies.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,551
    SandraMc said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Roger said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds Rayner only ties Farage on a best PM poll at 28% each while Starmer leads Farage 44% to 29%
    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1930211910881820719

    These results do not pass the sniff test. How have they got Starmer so far ahead?
    It's relative and Farage is poison to a large majority of voters. A group to which everyone I know belongs.
    You need to get out more then

    I utterly reject Farage but I am aware of people who are very much on board with him
    There's a chap with whom I occasionally drink who seems to think he's the bees knees but otherwise others whom I discuss politics prod him metaphorically with a sharp stick.
    And we're not that far from Clacton!
    Frinton are voting in a by election today, we can see what some of the good burghers of Clacton constituency think of him!
    Once upon a time at least the 'good burghers' of Frinton would have regarded Farage with horror as a jumped up oik who certainly wasn't a 'gentleman'. Even though he went to a public school.
    Frinton I think will be more Conservative than Clacton proper but I think the Reform tidal wave takes it. Tories took it in 2023 with 42% from an indy on 31%. Their only hope is if the indy voters (not standing this time) were all Tories who prefer to come home than go reform.
    Of course if they did hold on they'll be shoving it down Farages throat all summer
    I must admit that, while I haven't been to Frinton for some years, it wasn't then, and by report isn't now, what it was.
    They've actually got a pub there now and I believe there was a report of a fight in it!
    Shocking! Frinton was always a funny little corner of England
    I think I have mentioned this before but, when I was a child, we used to holiday all the way up the A12 to Clacton, and when we went to sleepy old posh Frinton for the day… there was an armed robbery!
    It was in the pub, wasn't it? Seem to remember something about it. Used to have to meetings in Clacton back in the 70's-80's.
    It was worse than I remembered. A policeman was shot dead


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Brian_Bishop
    To think that in the 80's someone I worked with was reprimanded in Frinton by a policeman for eating crisps in the street.
    Well deserved of they were prawn cocktail.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161
    Leon said:

    The fact the PB Centrist dads all admire the writing of..... Adrian Chiles.... is just DELICIOUSLY perfect

    You complain at Chiles and his writing through the prism of bigging up that Sean guy. But that Sean guy writes from the perspective of a show off, a popinjay if you like, Chiles on the other hand is reliably self deprecating. I like that in a writer.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 32,161
    Nigelb said:

    Trump: Putin actually said to me, ‘If you don’t mind, friend, I hate to see you as my enemy.’ He said it very strongly. I had a very good relationship with Putin. I had a very good relationship with President Xi. A very good relationship with Kim Jong Un
    https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1930377901683122513

    Birds of a feather flock together.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 11,035
    Lol, seen on X - because of the by election the Tories have most MSPs in attendance at Holyrood.
    June 5 2025 the first and last time the SCons take Holyrood!
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,630

    eek said:

    If “DOGE UK” finds significant amounts of legitimate waste I will be impressed. However I think it’s much more likely that it’s all performative and any “cuts” made will either cost councils more in the long run or cause services to further degrade.

    So far they have uncovered the scandal of councils tendering collectively to save money, and Kent County Council outsourcing recruitment to a business owned by Kent County Council...
    Top guys. Top, top guys. Working for free you know
    And not stopping to check what they are talking about.

    Now were I in Kent I would be asking my Reform councillor when I will see my share of that £375million saving - which given Kent has ~700,000 homes says I should be seeing £500 a year off my council tax bill.
    Indeed. Or what local services will you be upgrading or providing with the savings?
    The Tories ended up deeply hated
    Labour are becoming despised
    Reform aren't ready for the absolute visceral reaction their inevitable failure will bring.
    I'm happy to bet a shiny sixpence that, whatever goes wrong in Kent, Nigel will come out of it smelling of roses.

    The councillors will get chucked in the pool full of genetically engineered piranhas, and Zia Yusuf might follow them, but who cares about them?
    I don't think so. He's one zeitgeist shift from being seen as the racist wrecker many of us already see him as. The pendulum is going to move
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