No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
As I said.
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
The sea urchin toast is better than any dish I had in a week in wealthy Luxembourg
The creamy orange gonads are piped onto a slice of burnt brioche soaked in soy sauce. Superb
I knew it. I knew the food here would be better than Luxembourg. So far so good
What’s the booze like ?
If it’s like Iceland expensive
Why do mums go there then?
Pass not been in to a store in decades. Been to the country fairly often and often not to do much - Reykjavik is great for a few days of not doing anything at all
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Purely political. If they had gone with £20k, you can be sure Reform and the Tories would be saying it should be closer to £25k. £35k so high there is not much point arguing for those above to get it, nor will anyone dare make the sensible case it should be much lower.
So Dave (pbuh) and George think Robert Jenrick is the man to save the Tories.
Yet Robert thinks arguing about low skilled migration that he was in the cabinet when it happened on mass is a great vote winner
It may be a vote winner but it won’t help the Tories if he’s their leader
They say there's more join in heaven over one sinner that repenteth ...
If he's leader and takes a clear stand which the public listens to, I think the public will judge him on that. The bigger issue is getting the public to even listen to what any Tory has to say.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Is it some kind of "it's a cheap threshold to use becuase it can piggyback off the existing tax system" thing? Flip knows why.
(Though there was also the More In Common polling that put the publicly acceptable cutoff somewhere between 20k and 50k.)
But ultimately, it's housing costs that matter, because it's always housing costs.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Last year I spent about £24000 including £8400 in rent. I run a car. I go on multiple holidays. No dependents.
(I earned more than that, I'm just saving hard.)
£35000 with no rent or mortgage is plenty comfortable for a couple.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Purely political. If they had gone with £20k, you can be sure Reform and the Tories would be saying it should be closer to £25k. £35k so high there is not much point arguing for those above to get it, nor will anyone dare make the sensible case it should be much lower.
So to recap....they have removed wfa from very few people yet encouraged about 800k to claim more money so they saved in the region of?
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
As I said.
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
"Born again, and still wet behind the ears." As someone once said of those newly called to Christ.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Hmm well as a single person rent and bills come to about 22k a year before I even think of food, clothing or holidays and I dont run a car so I wonder where you are living thats that cheap
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
"Born again, and still wet behind the ears." As someone once said of those newly called to Christ.
No - “The bright, hard eyes of those who’ve found their Truth. And will, unflinchingly, sacrifice you to it.”
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Hmm well as a single person rent and bills come to about 22k a year before I even think of food, clothing or holidays and I dont run a car so I wonder where you are living thats that cheap
Take away rent and redo the maths.
It always comes back to housing.
And we're giving benefits to people who aren't paying for it!
So Dave (pbuh) and George think Robert Jenrick is the man to save the Tories.
Is the Conservative Party at the "Take this arsenic- yes it's toxic, but it just might cure your cancer" stage?
I assume you know that arsenic trioxide is front line treatment for certain types of leukemia in the US and a second/third line in the U.K.? If I ever relapse I am confident that I would embrace arsenic. There used to be a treatment in the 19th century called Fowlers Solution, which contained arsenic. It’s plausible that it was used to successfully treat leukemia - certainly there are reports that it is the only option used to have any success.
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
"Born again, and still wet behind the ears." As someone once said of those newly called to Christ.
No - “The bright, hard eyes of those who’ve found their Truth. And are looking for sacrifices to it.”
This is a problem for a young homosexual at university. There are two kinds of handsome young men who catch your eye and smile on the streets on a university town: other gays, and evangelical Christian Union members. Awkwardness all around!
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Purely political. If they had gone with £20k, you can be sure Reform and the Tories would be saying it should be closer to £25k. £35k so high there is not much point arguing for those above to get it, nor will anyone dare make the sensible case it should be much lower.
So to recap....they have removed wfa from very few people yet encouraged about 800k to claim more money so they saved in the region of?
Yes, and pissed off those in favour of the winter fuel cap, those in favour of it being removed for most pensioners and those who dislike weak governments in u-turns. Political madness all around.
Personally, despite wanting WFA means tested at around 20k, am quite happy that 800k more of those pensioners eligible for pension credit are now doing so. That is a good thing, even if it costs the taxpayer. Also, at least the issue of what we can afford to dole out to pensioners has been raised in the public consciousness, even if hardly no progress was made in balancing it.
Luke Tryl seems very adept at getting publicity for himself and his polls but they never seem as relevant or well framed as Yougov's. This one seems completely potty.
It's like casting Billie Piper as The Doctor It's genuinely stupid but garners clicks
Of course we don't know if she has been cast as the Dr yet, do we.
We do, it was officially confirmed on Doctor Who: Unleashed.
I'm not sure that's true. In fact, the ambiguity of RTD's comments make me think it's not so. Or has there been another ep since the regen ep, with Ncuti etc al lying thru their teeth?
.. Yes I am with you on this. TSE is being decieved.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Hmm well as a single person rent and bills come to about 22k a year before I even think of food, clothing or holidays and I dont run a car so I wonder where you are living thats that cheap
Take away rent and redo the maths.
It always comes back to housing.
And we're giving benefits to people who aren't paying for it!
I would love to take away rent sadly I cant as I need to pay it. I am guessing eek lives in a paid off home to only spend that little
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Fun fact: Britain occupied the Faroes between 1940 and 1945.
You know how the Danes have been wanking on and on about democracy and sovereignty and freedom to choose and “greenland has rights” and “how dare Trump ignore the people” and so on and on and on and on
Turns out that the Faroes had an official referendum after world war 2. They narrowly voted for complete independence from Denmark. At first Denmark seemed to accept this then Denmark decided this was an insult the denmarks pride and they literally overruled the vote. They did a Lib Dem revoke on it. Who cares what the people think. Let’s act like Trump. They annulled the referendum and dissolved the Faroes parliament
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
In my experience the most 'devout' people are either converts or people who very unIslamic in the early part of their lives.
Thankfully I have been a very observant Muslim my entire life so no chance of me being radicalised.
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
I think I mentioned I was there a few weeks ago
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Fun fact: Britain occupied the Faroes between 1940 and 1945.
It also occupied Iceland. To prevent Germany getting it.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
As I said.
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I've lost count of the lies; what truths has Sir Keir addressed since his election?
I was thinking about this the other evening.
Truth is a rare commodity in politics. It has got worse over 14 year of the Tories. We have had smarm from Cameron and Osborne, picking public fights with the EU and making private concessions. We've had outrageous bluster, bluff and misdirection from Boris.
But I'm not sure we've ever had our daily bread be straight barefaced, serious face lies the way Starmer and Reeves do it. When Boris is lying he at least has the decency not to look you in the eye. Starmer demands you accept his painfully obvious lies as the truth, and gets angry if you don't. It's socially uncomfortable - it's like dealing with an alcoholic in denial. It's Government by gaslighting.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Purely political. If they had gone with £20k, you can be sure Reform and the Tories would be saying it should be closer to £25k. £35k so high there is not much point arguing for those above to get it, nor will anyone dare make the sensible case it should be much lower.
So to recap....they have removed wfa from very few people yet encouraged about 800k to claim more money so they saved in the region of?
At least part of the original WFA decision was performance. In hindsight, a daft decision, but I suspect they thought it was a fairly safe option for looking "tough" on benefits and the finances.
As for the the 800k - surely that's what a Labour party should be doing? Plus, whenever a minister was asked at the time they said they were relaxed about it.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I like Deltics. Even the really clunky N gauge one Lima made in the 1970’s.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
"Born again, and still wet behind the ears." As someone once said of those newly called to Christ.
No - “The bright, hard eyes of those who’ve found their Truth. And are looking for sacrifices to it.”
This is a problem for a young homosexual at university. There are two kinds of handsome young men who catch your eye and smile on the streets on a university town: other gays, and evangelical Christian Union members. Awkwardness all around!
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I like Deltics. Even the really clunky N gauge one Lima made in the 1970’s.
HEATHEN !!!! I cast thee down into the vilest pits of Swindon!
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Fun fact: Britain occupied the Faroes between 1940 and 1945.
It also occupied Iceland. To prevent Germany getting it.
Fun fact there is a statue in reykavik in the harbour put up in 2014 and one of my names is inscribed on it
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Fun fact: Britain occupied the Faroes between 1940 and 1945.
It also occupied Iceland. To prevent Germany getting it.
Fun fact there is a statue in reykavik in the harbour put up in 2014 and one of my names is inscribed on it
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
I think I mentioned I was there a few weeks ago
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
Isn’t it great? Ok I’m not paying and getting treated like a king - and I’ve only been here half a day - but still it’s fab. Just enough tourists to ensure nice restaurants and bars but not enough to make it feel remotely overrun - which Iceland can do
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Fun fact: Britain occupied the Faroes between 1940 and 1945.
It also occupied Iceland. To prevent Germany getting it.
Iceland briefly 1940-41, then handing over responsibility to the USA. Greenland was US-occupied 1941-1945.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Purely political. If they had gone with £20k, you can be sure Reform and the Tories would be saying it should be closer to £25k. £35k so high there is not much point arguing for those above to get it, nor will anyone dare make the sensible case it should be much lower.
So to recap....they have removed wfa from very few people yet encouraged about 800k to claim more money so they saved in the region of?
At least part of the original WFA decision was performance. In hindsight, a daft decision, but I suspect they thought it was a fairly safe option for looking "tough" on benefits and the finances.
As for the the 800k - surely that's what a Labour party should be doing? Plus, whenever a minister was asked at the time they said they were relaxed about it.
I am not at all thinking all the people that could be claiming pension credit have now been encouraged to....just somewhat amused that the money saving idea especially with the u turn has done very much the opposite in fact wouldn't be surprised if as I remember the 2.3 billion saving has turned into a 2.3 billion loss
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
If you are in the Faroes for the Knockers' Gazette, you need to write about tunnels between islands, and fulminate about why the Scottish Islands have not got any.
And visit the world's only undersea roundabout - 600ft down from the surface.
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
I think I mentioned I was there a few weeks ago
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
Isn’t it great? Ok I’m not paying and getting treated like a king - and I’ve only been here half a day - but still it’s fab. Just enough tourists to ensure nice restaurants and bars but not enough to make it feel remotely overrun - which Iceland can do
I had the luck of incredible weather too. Go explore away from Torshavn. The tunnels are incredible, North from Grindavik it get pretty wild. Makes the West Highlands look as gentle as Surrey.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I like Deltics. Even the really clunky N gauge one Lima made in the 1970’s.
HEATHEN !!!! I cast thee down into the vilest pits of Swindon!
I crawled out of them 50 years ago and I’ve not intention of going back. But there is something magnificent about the look of the deltic, even if they were a bit rubbish.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
It seems to me that spending £40 per week on modest pleasures and entertainments is entirely reasonable. Or should pensioners be expected to just huddle around the fire sipping bread and water on their own? Not even an occasional pint or fish and chips?
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
If you are in the Faroes for the Knockers' Gazette, you need to write about tunnels between islands, and fulminate about why the Scottish Islands have not got any.
And visit the world's only undersea roundabout - 600ft down from the surface.
My piccie:
Either that photo has been flipped or they are driving on the wrong side of the road…
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
Just because the heretics who dislike Deltics will be burnt to purify their souls, doesn’t make me a a fanatic. Just & Fair really.
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
If you are in the Faroes for the Knockers' Gazette, you need to write about tunnels between islands, and fulminate about why the Scottish Islands have not got any.
And visit the world's only undersea roundabout - 600ft down from the surface.
My piccie:
Either that photo has been flipped or they are driving on the wrong side of the road…
AIUI they drive on the right where the sign points.
The vehicle you can see is parked on the shoulder.
I sometimes wonder if the future of the Falklands could be like the Faroes.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
Just because the heretics who dislike Deltics will be burnt to purify their souls, doesn’t make me a a fanatic. Just & Fair really.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
It seems to me that spending £40 per week on modest pleasures and entertainments is entirely reasonable. Or should pensioners be expected to just huddle around the fire sipping bread and water on their own? Not even an occasional pint or fish and chips?
You realise a lot of people working full time can't afford 40£ a week on modest pleasures?
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Gas leccy £3000 max Water £1000 Food £4000 Council tax £3000
Still leaves £9000 or so of discretionary spending.
Don't forget your bus (and underground / Lizzie line) pass goes a long way to keeping things going.
Add on a partner with the same pension and life would be very pleasant.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
It seems to me that spending £40 per week on modest pleasures and entertainments is entirely reasonable. Or should pensioners be expected to just huddle around the fire sipping bread and water on their own? Not even an occasional pint or fish and chips?
£40 per week of their own money? Absolutely reasonable.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
Just because the heretics who dislike Deltics will be burnt to purify their souls, doesn’t make me a a fanatic. Just & Fair really.
Now let us contemplate the Holy Trinity
I never understood this. Two axles are rotating clockwise, one is rotating anticlockwise. What is the purpose of this?
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
If you are in the Faroes for the Knockers' Gazette, you need to write about tunnels between islands, and fulminate about why the Scottish Islands have not got any.
And visit the world's only undersea roundabout - 600ft down from the surface.
My piccie:
Either that photo has been flipped or they are driving on the wrong side of the road…
AIUI they drive on the right where the sign points.
The vehicle you can see is parked on the shoulder.
I sometimes wonder if the future of the Falklands could be like the Faroes.
There is a similarity. Both are wealthy from fish. And maybe one day oil
But the Falklanders are much keener to remain British than the Faroese are to remain Danish
#Reform in #Kent KICKS councillor Daniel Taylor, OUT OF THE PARTY, with immediate effect ... “due to a very sensitive set of circumstances”. Which is pretty vague.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I have a predilection for the late-1930s/1940s electric trains with sliding doors, such as the main line Class 306, 502, 503 and 506, and the London Underground O/P/Q38/R, and 1938 stock.
#Reform in #Kent KICKS councillor Daniel Taylor, OUT OF THE PARTY, with immediate effect ... “due to a very sensitive set of circumstances”. Which is pretty vague.
I asked another poster this - are other parties seeing a loss of elected councillors but no one cares, or is this genuinely a thing. The comparison is air accidents in the USA…
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
It seems to me that spending £40 per week on modest pleasures and entertainments is entirely reasonable. Or should pensioners be expected to just huddle around the fire sipping bread and water on their own? Not even an occasional pint or fish and chips?
You realise a lot of people working full time can't afford 40£ a week on modest pleasures?
If I working 37.5 hours a week for example...if I was earning 15£ an hour....after paying bills but no food or clothing would be left with 46£ a week
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
I think I mentioned I was there a few weeks ago
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
#Reform in #Kent KICKS councillor Daniel Taylor, OUT OF THE PARTY, with immediate effect ... “due to a very sensitive set of circumstances”. Which is pretty vague.
You know how the Danes have been wanking on and on about democracy and sovereignty and freedom to choose and “greenland has rights” and “how dare Trump ignore the people” and so on and on and on and on
Turns out that the Faroes had an official referendum after world war 2. They narrowly voted for complete independence from Denmark. At first Denmark seemed to accept this then Denmark decided this was an insult the denmarks pride and they literally overruled the vote. They did a Lib Dem revoke on it. Who cares what the people think. Let’s act like Trump. They annulled the referendum and dissolved the Faroes parliament
What utter steaming hypocrites
Here's another fun fact - we've changed a bit since the 1940s, too.
Never explain, never apologise. Twitter people do not forget not forgive.
I think she cares more about what sponsors think than Twitter people though.
She's just a decent human being. Unlike those giving her crap.
I have no time at all for people who think trans athletes, well let’s be honest trans women, should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Sorry, but I think the advantages of being born male and gone through puberty with all that that entails leads to bigger, stronger people. You can take all the hormones and hormone blockers you like in later life - it won’t shrink your arms, legs and feet.
#Reform in #Kent KICKS councillor Daniel Taylor, OUT OF THE PARTY, with immediate effect ... “due to a very sensitive set of circumstances”. Which is pretty vague.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Gas leccy £3000 max Water £1000 Food £4000 Council tax £3000
Still leaves £9000 or so of discretionary spending.
Don't forget your bus (and underground / Lizzie line) pass goes a long way to keeping things going.
Add on a partner with the same pension and life would be very pleasant.
See no housing costs what so ever, no wonder you dont understand others points
Note no car, no insurance, a damn sight less council tax due to living in a cheap house, no food, no tv licence though I do have a streaming sub for 9£ a month which is still less than a tv licence
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
Just because the heretics who dislike Deltics will be burnt to purify their souls, doesn’t make me a a fanatic. Just & Fair really.
Now let us contemplate the Holy Trinity
I never understood this. Two axles are rotating clockwise, one is rotating anticlockwise. What is the purpose of this?
The red(ish) bits are pistons. Push towards each other in 3 separate cylinders.
This gives you lots of compression in each cylinder (lots of power out of each cylinder).
The layout gives you lots of power in a compact space.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I have a predilection for the late-1930s/1940s electric trains with sliding doors, such as the main line Class 306, 502, 503 and 506, and the London Underground O/P/Q38/R, and 1938 stock.
Those sorts of units were workhorses, many of which lasted decades. They were successes. The Deltics lasted barely 20 years before they were rightly sent to the knackers yard.
We enthusiasts tend to prefer the truly oddball one-offs, or the really fast locos, over the everyday stock that carried vastly more people or freight. And as an exception to that, I salute you!
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Gas leccy £3000 max Water £1000 Food £4000 Council tax £3000
Still leaves £9000 or so of discretionary spending.
Don't forget your bus (and underground / Lizzie line) pass goes a long way to keeping things going.
Add on a partner with the same pension and life would be very pleasant.
See no housing costs what so ever, no wonder you dont understand others points
Note no car, no insurance, a damn sight less council tax due to living in a cheap house, no food, no tv licence though I do have a streaming sub for 9£ a month which is still less than a tv licence
He's said, repeatedly, and originally "with no accommodation costs".
The point is this is welfare you and I and everyone else is being taxed to provide to give to people who overwhelming live with no accommodation costs.
See I looked at the odds earlier and you could have got 8-1 on a Senegal win. Knackered players, no point to the game for England, lots for Senegal. Didn’t go for it though.
Dunno about you but I’m in sizzling downtown Thorshavn, the mega trendy capital of the Faroes, and I’m up for ACTION. And maybe Greenlandic snow crab
How did you get the idea of visiting the Faroes?
In an act of stunning journalistic genius, I read an email from a travel company which said “Leon, we’d love to send you to the Faroes if you can get a commission”. So I asked my editor and he said Sure sounds fun
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
I think I mentioned I was there a few weeks ago
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
What's that - raw puffin eggs on the sea cliff ?
I had the wind dried fermented lamb. It's a bit like fatty biltong with a whiff of ammonia. Served on Rye bread with a local beer. I mentioned that I wanted to try it to our guide, so he invited me round his house and we sat in his kitchen munching on it. As well as a mountain guide, he was mayor of his village, shepherd, and hospital administrator. You have to be pretty versatile there. We then went to the village hall for folk dancing to traditional epic songs, and a church service in Faeroese. Fortunately it's a fairly phonetic language so we could keep up with the locals. A very hospitable people and fascinating culture.
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
In reality it was a choice for some between heating and eating out less.
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.
It’s a curious cut off point. I was always focused on those who had little private pension (up to say £21-23,000).
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
Or Gas and Leccy, Water charges, food shopping, Council Tax, TV Licence, home insurance, car insurance, car tax...
Gas leccy £3000 max Water £1000 Food £4000 Council tax £3000
Still leaves £9000 or so of discretionary spending.
Don't forget your bus (and underground / Lizzie line) pass goes a long way to keeping things going.
Add on a partner with the same pension and life would be very pleasant.
See no housing costs what so ever, no wonder you dont understand others points
Note no car, no insurance, a damn sight less council tax due to living in a cheap house, no food, no tv licence though I do have a streaming sub for 9£ a month which is still less than a tv licence
He's said, repeatedly, and originally "with no accommodation costs".
The point is this is welfare you and I and everyone else is being taxed to provide to give to people who overwhelming live with no accommodation costs.
I was more responding to his assertion that we shouldn't begrudge people spending 40 a week on entertainment when a lot of people working their asses off cant
Never explain, never apologise. Twitter people do not forget not forgive.
I think she cares more about what sponsors think than Twitter people though.
She's just a decent human being. Unlike those giving her crap.
I have no time at all for people who think trans athletes, well let’s be honest trans women, should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Sorry, but I think the advantages of being born male and gone through puberty with all that that entails leads to bigger, stronger people. You can take all the hormones and hormone blockers you like in later life - it won’t shrink your arms, legs and feet.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
Counterpoint: radicalisation. A boy I knew vaguely (friend of a friend, at another school) ended up in Guantanamo Bay. His parents were a solicitor and a doctor. By all accounts not very religious.
The new minted fanatic, rediscovering God after a dissolute youth, is always fun. See Cromwell.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
Fortunately, railway enthusiasm never produces fanatics.
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
I have a predilection for the late-1930s/1940s electric trains with sliding doors, such as the main line Class 306, 502, 503 and 506, and the London Underground O/P/Q38/R, and 1938 stock.
Those sorts of units were workhorses, many of which lasted decades. They were successes. The Deltics lasted barely 20 years before they were rightly sent to the knackers yard.
We enthusiasts tend to prefer the truly oddball one-offs, or the really fast locos, over the everyday stock that carried vastly more people or freight. And as an exception to that, I salute you!
Comments
£35,000 with no accommodation costs because your mortgage was paid off decades ago gives you a lot of discretionary spending that yep is going to be spent in pubs, cafes and garden centres
I love them
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(American_TV_series)
If he's leader and takes a clear stand which the public listens to, I think the public will judge him on that. The bigger issue is getting the public to even listen to what any Tory has to say.
(Though there was also the More In Common polling that put the publicly acceptable cutoff somewhere between 20k and 50k.)
But ultimately, it's housing costs that matter, because it's always housing costs.
I went to university in the 90s with several such.
(I earned more than that, I'm just saving hard.)
£35000 with no rent or mortgage is plenty comfortable for a couple.
It always comes back to housing.
And we're giving benefits to people who aren't paying for it!
And here I am
Tbh I have always wanted to visit, but in this case I didn’t have to sweat for it. Landed in my lap
Personally, despite wanting WFA means tested at around 20k, am quite happy that 800k more of those pensioners eligible for pension credit are now doing so. That is a good thing, even if it costs the taxpayer. Also, at least the issue of what we can afford to dole out to pensioners has been raised in the public consciousness, even if hardly no progress was made in balancing it.
Yes I am with you on this. TSE is being decieved.
You know how the Danes have been wanking on and on about democracy and sovereignty and freedom to choose and “greenland has rights” and “how dare Trump ignore the people” and so on and on and on and on
Turns out that the Faroes had an official referendum after world war 2. They narrowly voted for complete independence from Denmark. At first Denmark seemed to accept this then Denmark decided this was an insult the denmarks pride and they literally overruled the vote. They did a Lib Dem revoke on it. Who cares what the people think. Let’s act like Trump. They annulled the referendum and dissolved the Faroes parliament
What utter steaming hypocrites
Thankfully I have been a very observant Muslim my entire life so no chance of me being radicalised.
Are you going to do the "sense of adventure" meal?
Except for the sickos who like Deltics. And the preverted Coppertop fans...
Truth is a rare commodity in politics. It has got worse over 14 year of the Tories. We have had smarm from Cameron and Osborne, picking public fights with the EU and making private concessions. We've had outrageous bluster, bluff and misdirection from Boris.
But I'm not sure we've ever had our daily bread be straight barefaced, serious face lies the way Starmer and Reeves do it. When Boris is lying he at least has the decency not to look you in the eye. Starmer demands you accept his painfully obvious lies as the truth, and gets angry if you don't. It's socially uncomfortable - it's like dealing with an alcoholic in denial. It's Government by gaslighting.
As for the the 800k - surely that's what a Labour party should be doing? Plus, whenever a minister was asked at the time they said they were relaxed about it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Gaines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNbt8z-kOY4
As I suggested after the attack, it probably has not done much damage. Sadly...
And visit the world's only undersea roundabout - 600ft down from the surface.
My piccie:
Now let us contemplate the Holy Trinity
The vehicle you can see is parked on the shoulder.
I sometimes wonder if the future of the Falklands could be like the Faroes.
Water £1000
Food £4000
Council tax £3000
Still leaves £9000 or so of discretionary spending.
Don't forget your bus (and underground / Lizzie line) pass goes a long way to keeping things going.
Add on a partner with the same pension and life would be very pleasant.
Of welfare that others don't get? Nope.
Senegal 1
But the Falklanders are much keener to remain British than the Faroese are to remain Danish
And ANOTHER ONE gone.
#Reform in #Kent KICKS councillor Daniel Taylor, OUT OF THE PARTY, with immediate effect ... “due to a very sensitive set of circumstances”. Which is pretty vague.
What are Reform not saying ?
https://x.com/jdpoc/status/1932453509053419915
Unlike those giving her crap.
Senegal 2
So no.
1300rent + 150ct +20phone + 40net + 140gaselec+200train+water50
Note no car, no insurance, a damn sight less council tax due to living in a cheap house, no food, no tv licence though I do have a streaming sub for 9£ a month which is still less than a tv licence
This gives you lots of compression in each cylinder (lots of power out of each cylinder).
The layout gives you lots of power in a compact space.
We enthusiasts tend to prefer the truly oddball one-offs, or the really fast locos, over the everyday stock that carried vastly more people or freight. And as an exception to that, I salute you!
The point is this is welfare you and I and everyone else is being taxed to provide to give to people who overwhelming live with no accommodation costs.
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/en/football/friendlies-international/england-v-senegal-betting-34400250
Didn’t go for it though.
(The cartilage between the spine bones shrink?)
You poor, misguided soul.