Talking of dystopia.. try driving down the A217 from the top of Reigate hill into Wimbledon. Av Speed cameras.. then fixed cameras with the speed limit varying between 20 and 50.. let's not forget the Ulez cameras and the red light cameras. It's almost impossible to drive and not get nicked. I shall never drive down that road again. It would be interesting to know how much money the councils make out of this legal thievery.
You could just drive at or below the speed limit. It’s not hard.
Dunno, looks like a London specific project issue with their small (Area wise) councils sticking up all sorts of differing speed limits. The area round Rosehill roundabout looks a mess judging by Google maps for instance
3 lane roads could be any of 20,30,40,50,60 or 70 in London, often changing for no obvious reasons, sometimes multiple times within a mile or two. Got a new car which "tells" the speed limit, if I followed that I'd be banned very quickly, it is generally correct but wrong maybe 5% of the time. Having said that I will admit to speeding when it feels safe to do so and it isn't actually that hard to avoid points, the cameras are the big bright yellow things.
It's ok if there's plenty of traffic - just go with the flow - but if you're one of only a few cars you can easily get caught out.
This is partly the car culture wars in an around London. Susan Hall worked up quite a head of steam, and it will take some time to recover from the patchiness of the politics.
It will all be much easier when 20mph is default, with most of the rest being 30mph !
More seriously, there's room for simplification, including 40mph urban clearways, and higher speed limits for urban motorways in places. Watch what happens in Reform controlled County Councils - they get quite theological on some of this.
We need some changes rurally as well, partly to counter the folk-assumption that it's a speed target not a speed limit. For pedestrians etc, rural roads are more dangerous.
On your last point, I often walk though villages and on rural roads, and the national speed limit applies when the pavements end!
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
They have a strategy?
Basically it is moaning that the country is shit and nothing works. Unsurprisingly when the Tories have been in power for 14 of the last 15 years that doesn't translate into Tory votes.
Talking of dystopia.. try driving down the A217 from the top of Reigate hill into Wimbledon. Av Speed cameras.. then fixed cameras with the speed limit varying between 20 and 50.. let's not forget the Ulez cameras and the red light cameras. It's almost impossible to drive and not get nicked. I shall never drive down that road again. It would be interesting to know how much money the councils make out of this legal thievery.
You could just drive at or below the speed limit. It’s not hard.
Dunno, looks like a London specific project issue with their small (Area wise) councils sticking up all sorts of differing speed limits. The area round Rosehill roundabout looks a mess judging by Google maps for instance
3 lane roads could be any of 20,30,40,50,60 or 70 in London, often changing for no obvious reasons, sometimes multiple times within a mile or two. Got a new car which "tells" the speed limit, if I followed that I'd be banned very quickly, it is generally correct but wrong maybe 5% of the time. Having said that I will admit to speeding when it feels safe to do so and it isn't actually that hard to avoid points, the cameras are the big bright yellow things.
It's ok if there's plenty of traffic - just go with the flow - but if you're one of only a few cars you can easily get caught out.
This is partly the car culture wars.
It will all be much easier when 20mph is default, with most of the rest being 30mph !
More seriously, there's room for simplification, including 40mph urban clearways, and higher speed limits for urban motorways in places. Watch what happens in Reform controlled County Councils - they get quite theological on some of this.
We need some changes rurally as well, partly to counter the folk-assumption that it's a speed target not a speed limit. For pedestrians etc, rural roads are more dangerous.
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
The problem is any upwards revisions meets a very strong lobby of people who bring out stories of dead kids as reason why in fact we need to be 20mph everywhere....and we must think of the kids in addition to the eco-lobby of all those extra emissions, save the planet.
I'm with the Wales ideas, mainly - and a few years can be the test. My views rurally are probably very roughly 50mph single carriage A roads, 40 mph B-roads, and 30 mph the rest, as defaults. One possible distinction is where there are centre lines or not.
But there's a further arm around education / enforcement, and room for flexibility where a high quality safe alternative is provided for walking / wheeling and cycling eg the other side of the hedge.
On the 20mph everywhere, I don't think the "near schools and hospitals" exceptionalism works, because children and old people are - and should be - everywhere. I have lots of playgrounds, Doctors surgeries, and newsagents all over my locality, where there are often children and old people.
But it's too sunny to do this to death, today,
The council has recently made the road to the fish and chip shop 20mph because it passes two primary schools and a secondary school, with a third primary school at one end.
It looks like a waste of money. The schools have lollipop men or women, zebra crossings and pelican crossings, not to mention pavements. Either the transport committee was using up its budget or they'd seconded someone from the land of their fathers.
Where there have been people run over is up the other way, on an A-road with a turning into and out of the station, controlled by traffic lights. There is also a subway under the A-road so an interesting question is why people do not use it. Fear of crime, perhaps?
The point is, it looks like some of these improvements focus on a single issue, and often the wrong one. More care should be taken analysing causes of accidents, whether it be visibility, confusing, contradictory or hidden road signs, worn road markings.
Speaking personally, lack of consideration for pedestrians is an important factor often overlooked by both the car lobby and the cycling lobby.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished.
It will presumably merge with Reform, but as the junior partner. And all the centrists that hate this will shift to the LDs - where they belong
The only effective Tory politician left is Jenrick, who could easily be in Reform
PSA...Also turn on 2FA...its not perfect, but you aren't left butt naked if your trousers get pulled down.
What happens when AI can crack everyone's passwords?
Nothing is even close to doing this as long as you don't use common words and you use a fairly long password with the expanded character set. But that is also why you use 2FA, in case your password leaks. Password hacks of strong passwords are always down to human error e.g. downloading keylogger software or the company you have a password for isn't properly encrypting your username / password. 2FA can sidestepped if you attach it to your phone, but it can also be sidestepped if they just take you hostage.
The Chinese already solved this for payment....they scan your palm prints :-)
The Sun has learnt nothing from its Rebecca Brooks' period, has it?
26C here ... warming up.
What is it meant to “learn”?
This is a true story. I followed it on X. One guy went round Portsmouth trying to report on it, and he got official denials - until now
Fair enough. You might also have posted the follow up. ...In a statement to ITV News, the Home Office said: "The Home Secretary has asked the Home Office to work with other government departments to urgently examine the way Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is operating in these cases, specifically relating to prison standards overseas.
“Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free to roam Britain's streets, including removing them from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity. Extradition is a largely judicial process.”..
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished.
It will presumably merge with Reform, but as the junior partner. And all the centrists that hate this will shift to the LDs - where they belong
The only effective Tory politician left is Jenrick, who could easily be in Reform
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Ironically, the Conservatives' best chance is that Labour has turned its guns on Reform, apparently oblivious of the effects of their strategy – if it succeeds, then a Tory revival.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
The Sun has learnt nothing from its Rebecca Brooks' period, has it?
26C here ... warming up.
What is it meant to “learn”?
This is a true story. I followed it on X. One guy went round Portsmouth trying to report on it, and he got official denials - until now
Fair enough. You might also have posted the follow up. ...In a statement to ITV News, the Home Office said: "The Home Secretary has asked the Home Office to work with other government departments to urgently examine the way Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is operating in these cases, specifically relating to prison standards overseas.
“Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free to roam Britain's streets, including removing them from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity. Extradition is a largely judicial process.”..
It’s just so pathetic. The country has had enough and we want action NOW - not possible tweaks to the ECHR as it refers to prison conditions which may come on stream in 2037
Blimey today’s a stinker. Only 41% humidity and a dewpoint of a modest 16C at the local weather station but somehow feels much damper. Not much of a breeze.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
Depends. If they take the Millei chainsaw approach to public expenditure, and the private sector rockets away, AT THE SAME TIME as getting tough on crime and boat landings, they just might....
"We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.
Then retrain on that.
Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data."
Am I right in saying that he's proposing to retrain an AI from AI output?
Can I just add that "rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge" is the sort of thing that the villain in an upmarket spy-fi movie (Steed/Peel Avengers, say) would come out with?
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Look at it another way then. They just have to be better than Starmer and Reeves
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Ironically, the Conservatives' best chance is that Labour has turned its guns on Reform, apparently oblivious of the effects of their strategy – if it succeeds, then a Tory revival.
To an extent, that's not crazy for Labour.
Let's say the total vote on the right is 45% or so. Put all that in one box, it wins. Put it in different boxes in different places, it forms a post-election coalition. (See the potency of the Lib Lab geographical distribution for how that works.)
Split it 22:22 everywhere, and it loses everywhere. A modest Conservative revival helps lefties no end.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
Depends. If they take the Millei chainsaw approach to public expenditure, and the private sector rockets away, AT THE SAME TIME as getting tough on crime and boat landings, they just might....
Argentina and the UK are almost completely opposite cases. Argentina was so isolationist, so over-regulated and so closed to foreign capital that it was primed to see economic improvement with any loosening of its currency controls and internal regs. It’s also massively cost-competitive vs developed countries because it’s poor.
The UK is already one of the easiest places in the world to do business (attested repeatedly in global surveys) , one of the largest recipients of FDI and one of the most open economies in the world. And it’s rich with high wages. It could boost growth through macro-economic reform, of course, but by tenths of a percent. The dry tinder isn’t there.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Look at it another way then. They just have to be better than Starmer and Reeves
lol
Starmer and Reeves are better than Sunak and Truss, doesn't do them any good. The great British public want low taxes, high public spending, low immigration, lots of nurses, builders and care workers. None of it is remotely deliverable whatever politician is in charge.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Ironically, the Conservatives' best chance is that Labour has turned its guns on Reform, apparently oblivious of the effects of their strategy – if it succeeds, then a Tory revival.
To an extent, that's not crazy for Labour.
Let's say the total vote on the right is 45% or so. Put all that in one box, it wins. Put it in different boxes in different places, it forms a post-election coalition. (See the potency of the Lib Lab geographical distribution for how that works.)
Split it 22:22 everywhere, and it loses everywhere. A modest Conservative revival helps lefties no end.
It’s too early in the parliament for that yet. Labour need Reform riding high in the polls and conservatives sinking, right up until around few months before the next election when the Tories mount a comeback (which they will, if they remain in touching distance).
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
If you raise the limit to 80 many people will start doing 90. The dangerous part of that is the increasing delta between slow and fast vehicles; the limit for HGVs would have to go from 60 to 70, but a lot of them can't do that speed. Same for some budget cars and small-bore scooters/motorcycles.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Ironically, the Conservatives' best chance is that Labour has turned its guns on Reform, apparently oblivious of the effects of their strategy – if it succeeds, then a Tory revival.
To an extent, that's not crazy for Labour.
Let's say the total vote on the right is 45% or so. Put all that in one box, it wins. Put it in different boxes in different places, it forms a post-election coalition. (See the potency of the Lib Lab geographical distribution for how that works.)
Split it 22:22 everywhere, and it loses everywhere. A modest Conservative revival helps lefties no end.
It’s too early in the parliament for that yet. Labour need Reform riding high in the polls and conservatives sinking, right up until around few months before the next election when the Tories mount a comeback (which they will, if they remain in touching distance).
This presumes that Labour themselves won’t sink below 20%. As we head towards an enormous iceberg of debt, along with all the other problems, this seems *optimistic*
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
If you raise the limit to 80 many people will start doing 90. The dangerous part of that is the increasing delta between slow and fast vehicles; the limit for HGVs would have to go from 60 to 70, but a lot of them can't do that speed. Same for some budget cars and small-bore scooters/motorcycles.
A lot more used to do 90 when I started driving. The big difference is the people doing 70 back then were aware of the existence of lanes to the left of them.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Leon is reasoning back from a predetermined conclusion.
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
If you raise the limit to 80 many people will start doing 90. The dangerous part of that is the increasing delta between slow and fast vehicles; the limit for HGVs would have to go from 60 to 70, but a lot of them can't do that speed. Same for some budget cars and small-bore scooters/motorcycles.
I would punish those going over the 80 more harshly is one solution to speed creep. Modern budget cars can easily do 80 these days we are way past the bangers of the past. And we don't have to upscale lorry speeds. A large proportion of drivers do 80 at the moment and there isn't a problem with lorries in the slow lane.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
Depends. If they take the Millei chainsaw approach to public expenditure, and the private sector rockets away, AT THE SAME TIME as getting tough on crime and boat landings, they just might....
That requires taking a chainsaw approach to public expenditure ON THE OLDIES.
Plus an end to nimbyism, getting rid of national insurance, tax credits for training and anything else which might by aspirational.
On the header, I think Ref UK will have a real problem around building organisational infrastructure, and a problem in that they will believe that they are good at it - when they are really dangerously addicted to believing their pre-baked delusions, which are dogmas that have come in from all kinds of strange places bearing no relation to reality on the ground.
We have seen that already in multiple dimensions - especially around the allegedly world-beating vetting system which has let all kinds of strange people through. Also around ideas imported untested from MAGA, in the belief that the UK is just like the USA. Unfortunately for Ref UK, and fortunately for the rest of us, that is imagined. And a belief that a local authority sector that is already gutted, is full of fat.
Ppolitical parties only work with a measure of internal consistency, and need a sustainable voting coalition, and a competent organisation plus an ability to run the basic systems. I don't see it. I don't even see an ability to tell the wood from the trees. Examples are the fallings out at the top of Ref UK in Cornwall Council, and subsequent referrals to the authorities over electoral expenses, and Darren Grime's tantrums about equality training - he has not worked out where he thinks the differences are between equality and "woke".
I don't think .. to repurpose WB Yeats - the centre can hold with external pressures and internal tensions; it's shonky enough already, but that is where they want to put the overwhelming focus.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Leon is reasoning back from a predetermined conclusion.
I’m looking at a poll which has Reform winning a massive overall majority, 9 points ahead of Labour
On the header, I think Ref UK will have a real problem around building organisational infrastructure, and a problem in that they will believe that they are good at it - when they are really dangerously addicted to believing their pre-baked delusions, which are dogmas that have come in from all kinds of strange places bearing no relation to reality on the ground.
We have seen that already in multiple dimensions - especially around the allegedly world-beating vetting system which has let all kinds of strange people through. Also around ideas imported untested from MAGA, in the belief that the UK is just like the USA. Unfortunately for Ref UK, and fortunately for the rest of us, that is imagined. And a belief that a local authority sector that is already gutted, is full of fat.
Ppolitical parties only work with a measure of internal consistency, and need a sustainable voting coalition, and a competent organisation plus an ability to run the basic systems. I don't see it. I don't even see an ability to tell the wood from the trees. Examples are the fallings out at the top of Ref UK in Cornwall Council, and subsequent referrals to the authorities over electoral expenses, and Darren Grime's tantrums about equality training - he has not worked out where he thinks the differences are between equality and "woke".
I don't think .. to repurpose WB Yeats - the centre can hold with external pressures and internal tensions; it's shonky enough already, but that is where they want to put the overwhelming focus.
Grimes problem is that he thinks his mate is the most qualified person for job x even if someone more qualified applies
On the header, I think Ref UK will have a real problem around building organisational infrastructure, and a problem in that they will believe that they are good at it - when they are really dangerously addicted to believing their pre-baked delusions, which are dogmas that have come in from all kinds of strange places bearing no relation to reality on the ground.
We have seen that already in multiple dimensions - especially around the allegedly world-beating vetting system which has let all kinds of strange people through. Also around ideas imported untested from MAGA, in the belief that the UK is just like the USA. Unfortunately for Ref UK, and fortunately for the rest of us, that is imagined. And a belief that a local authority sector that is already gutted, is full of fat.
Ppolitical parties only work with a measure of internal consistency, and need a sustainable voting coalition, and a competent organisation plus an ability to run the basic systems. I don't see it. I don't even see an ability to tell the wood from the trees. Examples are the fallings out at the top of Ref UK in Cornwall Council, and subsequent referrals to the authorities over electoral expenses, and Darren Grime's tantrums about equality training - he has not worked out where he thinks the differences are between equality and "woke".
I don't think .. to repurpose WB Yeats - the centre can hold with external pressures and internal tensions; it's shonky enough already, but that is where they want to put the overwhelming focus.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Leon is reasoning back from a predetermined conclusion.
I’m looking at a poll which has Reform winning a massive overall majority, 9 points ahead of Labour
The tweet from the Spectator journalist with the Ipsos numbers has disappeared. Hope it wasn't a fake poll that he fell for. It was very surprising to see RefUK as high as 34%.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Look at it another way then. They just have to be better than Starmer and Reeves
lol
Starmer and Reeves are better than Sunak and Truss, doesn't do them any good. The great British public want low taxes, high public spending, low immigration, lots of nurses, builders and care workers. None of it is remotely deliverable whatever politician is in charge.
Then stop lying to the public and explain it to them. Then show them your version of a real alternative. I guess you will tell me the public will not vote for it, but they voted for Cameron who was upfront about the GFC, and they voted for Millei in Argentina.
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
If you raise the limit to 80 many people will start doing 90. The dangerous part of that is the increasing delta between slow and fast vehicles; the limit for HGVs would have to go from 60 to 70, but a lot of them can't do that speed. Same for some budget cars and small-bore scooters/motorcycles.
I would punish those going over the 80 more harshly is one solution to speed creep. Modern budget cars can easily do 80 these days we are way past the bangers of the past. And we don't have to upscale lorry speeds. A large proportion of drivers do 80 at the moment and there isn't a problem with lorries in the slow lane.
If that is all that is holding it back just put speed limiters into cars at somewhere between 85/90ish.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
All Reform has to do is crush immigration, commence deportations of criminals and the Boriswave, and stop the boats. If they literally do just that and nothing else they could win a 2nd term
Are you predicting they might surprise on the upside? Enough said.
Look at it another way then. They just have to be better than Starmer and Reeves
lol
Starmer and Reeves are better than Sunak and Truss, doesn't do them any good. The great British public want low taxes, high public spending, low immigration, lots of nurses, builders and care workers. None of it is remotely deliverable whatever politician is in charge.
Then stop lying to the public and explain it to them. Then show them your version of a real alternative. I guess you will tell me the public will not vote for it, but they voted for Cameron who was upfront about the GFC, and they voted for Millei in Argentina.
In favour. Not being offered by anyone, including Reform.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Ironically, the Conservatives' best chance is that Labour has turned its guns on Reform, apparently oblivious of the effects of their strategy – if it succeeds, then a Tory revival.
To an extent, that's not crazy for Labour.
Let's say the total vote on the right is 45% or so. Put all that in one box, it wins. Put it in different boxes in different places, it forms a post-election coalition. (See the potency of the Lib Lab geographical distribution for how that works.)
Split it 22:22 everywhere, and it loses everywhere. A modest Conservative revival helps lefties no end.
It’s too early in the parliament for that yet. Labour need Reform riding high in the polls and conservatives sinking, right up until around few months before the next election when the Tories mount a comeback (which they will, if they remain in touching distance).
This presumes that Labour themselves won’t sink below 20%. As we head towards an enormous iceberg of debt, along with all the other problems, this seems *optimistic*
Our debt is historically high and rising, but still significantly lower as a percentage of GDP than the USA or several Western European countries. The problem is Reeves boxing herself in with fiscal rules and stupid election tax promises. At the last count ours was 95.9% of GDP. France was 113%. The USA was 124%, and Trump’s big beautiful bill will take it several notches higher.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
If the Tories end up fourth at the next election, though, then Buggins' Turn might favour the Lib Dems instead.
When two party politics re-establishes itself the two parties might be Reform and the Lib Dems.
The tweet from the Spectator journalist with the Ipsos numbers has disappeared. Hope it wasn't a fake poll that he fell for. It was very surprising to see RefUK as high as 34%.
Talking of dystopia.. try driving down the A217 from the top of Reigate hill into Wimbledon. Av Speed cameras.. then fixed cameras with the speed limit varying between 20 and 50.. let's not forget the Ulez cameras and the red light cameras. It's almost impossible to drive and not get nicked. I shall never drive down that road again. It would be interesting to know how much money the councils make out of this legal thievery.
You could just drive at or below the speed limit. It’s not hard.
Dunno, looks like a London specific project issue with their small (Area wise) councils sticking up all sorts of differing speed limits. The area round Rosehill roundabout looks a mess judging by Google maps for instance
3 lane roads could be any of 20,30,40,50,60 or 70 in London, often changing for no obvious reasons, sometimes multiple times within a mile or two. Got a new car which "tells" the speed limit, if I followed that I'd be banned very quickly, it is generally correct but wrong maybe 5% of the time. Having said that I will admit to speeding when it feels safe to do so and it isn't actually that hard to avoid points, the cameras are the big bright yellow things.
It's ok if there's plenty of traffic - just go with the flow - but if you're one of only a few cars you can easily get caught out.
This is partly the car culture wars.
It will all be much easier when 20mph is default, with most of the rest being 30mph !
More seriously, there's room for simplification, including 40mph urban clearways, and higher speed limits for urban motorways in places. Watch what happens in Reform controlled County Councils - they get quite theological on some of this.
We need some changes rurally as well, partly to counter the folk-assumption that it's a speed target not a speed limit. For pedestrians etc, rural roads are more dangerous.
"National Speed Limit" of 60mph on so many rural roads always struck me as quite stupid as it is too fast, where as raising the limit to 80mph on major motorways seems perfectly acceptable (its what most people do anyway).
The problem is any upwards revisions meets a very strong lobby of people who bring out stories of dead kids as reason why in fact we need to be 20mph everywhere....and we must think of the kids in addition to the eco-lobby of all those extra emissions, save the planet.
I'm with the Wales ideas, mainly - and a few years can be the test. My views rurally are probably very roughly 50mph single carriage A roads, 40 mph B-roads, and 30 mph the rest, as defaults. One possible distinction is where there are centre lines or not.
But there's a further arm around education / enforcement, and room for flexibility where a high quality safe alternative is provided for walking / wheeling and cycling eg the other side of the hedge.
On the 20mph everywhere, I don't think the "near schools and hospitals" exceptionalism works, because children and old people are - and should be - everywhere. I have lots of playgrounds, Doctors surgeries, and newsagents all over my locality, where there are often children and old people.
But it's too sunny to do this to death, today,
The council has recently made the road to the fish and chip shop 20mph because it passes two primary schools and a secondary school, with a third primary school at one end.
It looks like a waste of money. The schools have lollipop men or women, zebra crossings and pelican crossings, not to mention pavements. Either the transport committee was using up its budget or they'd seconded someone from the land of their fathers.
Where there have been people run over is up the other way, on an A-road with a turning into and out of the station, controlled by traffic lights. There is also a subway under the A-road so an interesting question is why people do not use it. Fear of crime, perhaps?
The point is, it looks like some of these improvements focus on a single issue, and often the wrong one. More care should be taken analysing causes of accidents, whether it be visibility, confusing, contradictory or hidden road signs, worn road markings.
Speaking personally, lack of consideration for pedestrians is an important factor often overlooked by both the car lobby and the cycling lobby.
I think the piece linked the other day gave quite a good rounded perspective, not that I can find it, though it was from a USA viewpoint - which is very different to almost everywhere, with everything set up to enforce use of private cars for around 100 years, whether deliberately or coincidentally.
The genius of the Welsh approach was that in the UK default limits have very few specific signs relying on the presence of lamp posts, so it was both relatively widespread change and very inexpensive. The cost was around £35m compared to eg the £330 million that has just been spent on changing ONE junction of the M25 (Wisley).
Jamie Smith must be the worst wicketkeeper ever to stand behind the stumps for England.
Worse than Butler and Bairstow? They weren't very good in test cricket.
Much worse.
I haven't watched him that much but I have seen him miss two easy stumpings and a routine edge. You wouldn't expect to see that in a fifty match Test career.
The first of the stumpings (against Pakistan) would have raised a laugh in a game of beach cricket. Batsman went charging down the pitch and missed the ball, leaving him stranded so far out of his ground he didn't even bother to try and get back. Smith dropped the ball but would have had enough time to pick it up had he not clumsily kicked the ball away to square leg. It was inept.
The guy is not a wicketkeeper. He is a good batter who has picked up the gloves to improve his chances of selection. England for some reason have bought this. Proper wicketkeepers, and there are many available, must be seething.
The tweet from the Spectator journalist with the Ipsos numbers has disappeared. Hope it wasn't a fake poll that he fell for. It was very surprising to see RefUK as high as 34%.
I think there was a moment where he might have been a bit worried about Trump's intentions. Around about when Russia was offering a minerals deal to the US to try and head off one with Ukraine. But he seems giddy with confidence that he has the measure of Trump now, and he clearly feels he has faced him down over Ukraine and is confident about doing the same with Iran.
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
If the Tories end up fourth at the next election, though, then Buggins' Turn might favour the Lib Dems instead.
When two party politics re-establishes itself the two parties might be Reform and the Lib Dems.
Its possible but think it far less likely the LDs have the support of the media and donors compared to the Tories.
On the header, I think Ref UK will have a real problem around building organisational infrastructure, and a problem in that they will believe that they are good at it - when they are really dangerously addicted to believing their pre-baked delusions, which are dogmas that have come in from all kinds of strange places bearing no relation to reality on the ground.
We have seen that already in multiple dimensions - especially around the allegedly world-beating vetting system which has let all kinds of strange people through. Also around ideas imported untested from MAGA, in the belief that the UK is just like the USA. Unfortunately for Ref UK, and fortunately for the rest of us, that is imagined. And a belief that a local authority sector that is already gutted, is full of fat.
Ppolitical parties only work with a measure of internal consistency, and need a sustainable voting coalition, and a competent organisation plus an ability to run the basic systems. I don't see it. I don't even see an ability to tell the wood from the trees. Examples are the fallings out at the top of Ref UK in Cornwall Council, and subsequent referrals to the authorities over electoral expenses, and Darren Grime's tantrums about equality training - he has not worked out where he thinks the differences are between equality and "woke".
I don't think .. to repurpose WB Yeats - the centre can hold with external pressures and internal tensions; it's shonky enough already, but that is where they want to put the overwhelming focus.
Maybe we're back in the era of one person being able to make things happen, as with Trump.
The tweet from the Spectator journalist with the Ipsos numbers has disappeared. Hope it wasn't a fake poll that he fell for. It was very surprising to see RefUK as high as 34%.
Incidentally, the Telegraph admitted accidentally posting a fake story the other day about a family who couldn't afford to go on five holidays despite earning £345k a year.
Incidentally, the Telegraph admitted accidentally posting a fake story the other day about a family who couldn't afford to go on five holidays despite earning £345k a year.
"We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.
Then retrain on that.
Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data."
Am I right in saying that he's proposing to retrain an AI from AI output?
Can I just add that "rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge" is the sort of thing that the villain in an upmarket spy-fi movie (Steed/Peel Avengers, say) would come out with?
People have suggested that this is part of a megalomaniac plan from the billionaires. Replace all the journalists with AI bots. Program the AI to propagate their worldview. Sit back and manipulate public opinion to their benefit.
The research on how people use search engines died that many people often don't look beyond the to result, and now that's an AI summary. There's a massive amount of power to shape the perception of truth now held by whoever controls LLMs and their training.
It does seem like Musk has only said this out loud. It's exceptionally dangerous for democracy. Makes arguments about BBC bias feel incredibly quaint and old-fashioned.
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
That Tehran tv show is appears to be closer to fact.
If one was trying to orchestrate a coup, might one claim that the leader is holed up somewhere super secure and entirely secret?
I don't think it is debatable that Mossad have infiltrated Iran. They managed to secretly setup drone production factories within Iran over the course of years and when called upon deployed car bombs to kill many senior officials and scientists. They also seem to know where many other senior officials are, another two got killed overnight, one travelling in a remote region from a safe house.
Yes, while the LDs have more concentrated voteshare in their target seats as they get over 20% Reform will win more seats and if the get to 30%+ as some polls are now suggesting could come first and even win a majority government. The latter as Gareth suggests depends on Reform making more inroads in the soft Leave home counties seats, not just the strongest Leave seats in working class areas of the North, the Midlands and parts of Eastern England, especially Essex and Kent. Though they are making gains in south Wales, Reform also will want to see more progress in the Senedd and Holyrood elections next year, especially in ex industrial parts of Scotland and Wales building on the progress they made in Hamilton.
Of course the more polls have Reform the main alternative to Labour, the more seats Conservative voters are likely to tactically vote Reform (given Labour have a big majority at the last GE in most seats LD and Green supporters already tactically voted Labour under FPTP). In Reform v Tory marginals like Clacton and Brentwood and Ongar you could even see some Labour, LD and Green voters vote Conservative to keep Reform out
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
That Tehran tv show is appears to be closer to fact.
Geo Galloway Esq is claiming that the “earthquake” in Iran was actually an A bomb test
In his case it’s almost certainly hopeguessing
The point of doing an A-bomb test for Iran at the moment would be to show the world that you've done an A-bomb test, and thereby deter military attacks from continuing.
I don't see the point in them conducting a test and keeping it on the downlow. It's not like they could keep it secret.
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
Bit worried about how much heavy lifting Stokes is doing, yet again. He has bowled basically as many as the front line bowlers and yet again leading wicket taker.
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
If the Tories end up fourth at the next election, though, then Buggins' Turn might favour the Lib Dems instead.
When two party politics re-establishes itself the two parties might be Reform and the Lib Dems.
Neither are leftwing enough for socialists though, so that would still leave space for a smaller Labour party and the Greens though at the moment Starmer still has most of the centre left and Davey is targeting centrist home counties ex Tories still.
The Tories are more at risk if Reform remain the main party of the right and we don't get PR, though some fiscally conservative middle class voters would still prefer the Tory party to Reform
Bit worried about how much heavy lifting Stokes is doing, yet again. He has bowled basically as many as the front line bowlers and yet again leading wicket taker.
He can't do this for five Tests against India and five Tests against the Aussies.
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
That Tehran tv show is appears to be closer to fact.
Geo Galloway Esq is claiming that the “earthquake” in Iran was actually an A bomb test
In his case it’s almost certainly hopeguessing
The point of doing an A-bomb test for Iran at the moment would be to show the world that you've done an A-bomb test, and thereby deter military attacks from continuing.
I don't see the point in them conducting a test and keeping it on the downlow. It's not like they could keep it secret.
Its very possible that the attacks would change to nuclear.
You can only deter attacks if you have the required numbers of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver them.
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
"We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.
Then retrain on that.
Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data."
Am I right in saying that he's proposing to retrain an AI from AI output?
Can I just add that "rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge" is the sort of thing that the villain in an upmarket spy-fi movie (Steed/Peel Avengers, say) would come out with?
People have suggested that this is part of a megalomaniac plan from the billionaires. Replace all the journalists with AI bots. Program the AI to propagate their worldview. Sit back and manipulate public opinion to their benefit.
The research on how people use search engines died that many people often don't look beyond the to result, and now that's an AI summary. There's a massive amount of power to shape the perception of truth now held by whoever controls LLMs and their training.
It does seem like Musk has only said this out loud. It's exceptionally dangerous for democracy. Makes arguments about BBC bias feel incredibly quaint and old-fashioned.
As I noted earlier, they also directly appeal to the AI "@grok is this true?" for objective fact.
Exceptionally dangerous indeed. We're delegating our choices to machines.
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
"We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.
Then retrain on that.
Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data."
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished.
It will presumably merge with Reform, but as the junior partner. And all the centrists that hate this will shift to the LDs - where they belong
The only effective Tory politician left is Jenrick, who could easily be in Reform
Jenrick is even more rightwing than Farage on most issues.
The Tories fate ultimately depends on the next general election result, if Reform overtake them on votes and seats at the next general election then the Tories are probably fated to merge with them, in reality a takeover, under FPTP. With as you say most One Nation Tories joining the LDs rather than the new merged Reform led party. If Reform win an overall majority they may not even be interested anyway so a rump of Tory MPs could stay and join Labour and LD MPs on the opposition benches and hope their populism falls flat.
If we get a Labour and LD government in a hung parliament that introduces PR though the Tories could easily survive, even 15% of the vote would give them around 100 MPs
The final day of Ascot kicks off in about an hour so one final chance to see a Prince and become a pauper (and probably eat a porpoise if you attend one of the many on-course eateries).
Selections - Day Five: Chesham Stakes: TREANMOR Hardwicke Stakes: REBEL'S ROMANCE Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes: INISHERIN (win), FLORA OF BERMUDA (each way) Jersey Stakes: SARACEN
Iran’s supreme leader has been moved to a highly secure location where he is under the protection of a top-secret elite unit, The Telegraph has learned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
That Tehran tv show is appears to be closer to fact.
If one was trying to orchestrate a coup, might one claim that the leader is holed up somewhere super secure and entirely secret?
I don't think it is debatable that Mossad have infiltrated Iran. They managed to secretly setup drone production factories within Iran over the course of years and when called upon deployed car bombs to kill many senior officials and scientists. They also seem to know where many other senior officials are, another two got killed overnight, one travelling in a remote region from a safe house.
The atmosphere in Iran seems very diffucult. Checkpoints on every corner, clerics calling for torture and execution of oppositionalists at Friday prayers, and Khamenei naming three possible successors.
Meanwhile he's lost nearly all of his top IRGC leadedlrship, while Russia and Turkey look to support him.
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
“Tucker Carlson: “If I were Putin, I would offer free first class trips to Moscow so they could see that Moscow was so much nicer than any place in Great Britain. It's like not even close…It's just weird that they're mad at Putin. Why aren't they mad at Keir Starmer? Britain is so degraded”
As long as Badenoch and Jenrick keep focusing on issues that boost Reform at the expense of Tories, yes Reform will keep increasing their share and the Tories will keep dropping. The Tories seem oblivious to the effects of their strategy.
Speaking as a long time member of the Tory party; electorally, I fear it is finished. There are no issues of substance that we have the ability to press without people saying 'errr, why didn't you fix this in the 14 years you were in power'.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The public will inevitably turn on Reform as they have done Starmer as Reform won't be able to deliver. So if the Tories can survive for another five years they could be back in power within 10. Hopefully they will have come up with some form of coherent strategy by then and stopped with the moaning and nostalgia.
If the Tories end up fourth at the next election, though, then Buggins' Turn might favour the Lib Dems instead.
When two party politics re-establishes itself the two parties might be Reform and the Lib Dems.
Neither are leftwing enough for socialists though, so that would still leave space for a smaller Labour party and the Greens though at the moment Starmer still has most of the centre left and Davey is targeting centrist home counties ex Tories still.
The Tories are more at risk if Reform remain the main party of the right and we don't get PR, though some fiscally conservative middle class voters would still prefer the Tory party to Reform
There is still a long way to go for the Lib Dems to eclipse Labour (and the Tories) but I think it would be a mistake to think about this in purely left-right terms of the 70s and 80s.
Yes, while the LDs have more concentrated voteshare in their target seats as they get over 20% Reform will win more seats and if the get to 30%+ as some polls are now suggesting could come first and even win a majority government. The latter as Gareth suggests depends on Reform making more inroads in the soft Leave home counties seats, not just the strongest Leave seats in working class areas of the North, the Midlands and parts of Eastern England, especially Essex and Kent. Though they are making gains in south Wales, Reform also will want to see more progress in the Senedd and Holyrood elections next year, especially in ex industrial parts of Scotland and Wales building on the progress they made in Hamilton.
Of course the more polls have Reform the main alternative to Labour, the more seats Conservative voters are likely to tactically vote Reform (given Labour have a big majority at the last GE in most seats LD and Green supporters already tactically voted Labour under FPTP). In Reform v Tory marginals like Clacton and Brentwood and Ongar you could even see some Labour, LD and Green voters vote Conservative to keep Reform out
Whereas in a seat like Amber Valley, if you are a Conservative and you want to keep Reform out, the best thing would be to vote Labour presumably?
Of course it is but it’s the system and I cannot see either parry actually changing it.
Just plenty of talk.
Yes. Only Reform would actually do anything. Which is another reason to vote for them. They’d withdraw on day 2 and the entire country would breathe a sigh of relief
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/21/internet-users-advised-to-change-passwords-after-16bn-logins-exposed
PSA...Also turn on 2FA...its not perfect, but you aren't left butt naked if your trousers get pulled down.
26C here ... warming up.
This is a true story. I followed it on X. One guy went round Portsmouth trying to report on it, and he got official denials - until now
It looks like a waste of money. The schools have lollipop men or women, zebra crossings and pelican crossings, not to mention pavements. Either the transport committee was using up its budget or they'd seconded someone from the land of their fathers.
Where there have been people run over is up the other way, on an A-road with a turning into and out of the station, controlled by traffic lights. There is also a subway under the A-road so an interesting question is why people do not use it. Fear of crime, perhaps?
The point is, it looks like some of these improvements focus on a single issue, and often the wrong one. More care should be taken analysing causes of accidents, whether it be visibility, confusing, contradictory or hidden road signs, worn road markings.
Speaking personally, lack of consideration for pedestrians is an important factor often overlooked by both the car lobby and the cycling lobby.
Of course, they're absolutely correct.
The failure to take on the Blairite consensus was their downfall. They let the state grow, and drift left, all the time getting weaker on lawNorder, and defence; and at the same time let the tax burden grow.
Unforgivable.
The only effective Tory politician left is Jenrick, who could easily be in Reform
The Chinese already solved this for payment....they scan your palm prints :-)
You might also have posted the follow up.
...In a statement to ITV News, the Home Office said: "The Home Secretary has asked the Home Office to work with other government departments to urgently examine the way Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is operating in these cases, specifically relating to prison standards overseas.
“Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free to roam Britain's streets, including removing them from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity. Extradition is a largely judicial process.”..
Just under 29C at the vineyard.
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people... the Druids
No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock... Of Stonehenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg5Ovdu6bOE
Vladimir Putin says Russia and Iran are fighting against the same behind-the-scenes forces
https://x.com/upholdreality/status/1936097555479191586
better than Starmer and Reeves
lol
Coffee!
Let's say the total vote on the right is 45% or so. Put all that in one box, it wins. Put it in different boxes in different places, it forms a post-election coalition. (See the potency of the Lib Lab geographical distribution for how that works.)
Split it 22:22 everywhere, and it loses everywhere. A modest Conservative revival helps lefties no end.
The UK is already one of the easiest places in the world to do business (attested repeatedly in global surveys) , one of the largest recipients of FDI and one of the most open economies in the world. And it’s rich with high wages. It could boost growth through macro-economic reform, of course, but by tenths of a percent. The dry tinder isn’t there.
Plus an end to nimbyism, getting rid of national insurance, tax credits for training and anything else which might by aspirational.
We have seen that already in multiple dimensions - especially around the allegedly world-beating vetting system which has let all kinds of strange people through. Also around ideas imported untested from MAGA, in the belief that the UK is just like the USA. Unfortunately for Ref UK, and fortunately for the rest of us, that is imagined. And a belief that a local authority sector that is already gutted, is full of fat.
Ppolitical parties only work with a measure of internal consistency, and need a sustainable voting coalition, and a competent organisation plus an ability to run the basic systems. I don't see it. I don't even see an ability to tell the wood from the trees. Examples are the fallings out at the top of Ref UK in Cornwall Council, and subsequent referrals to the authorities over electoral expenses, and Darren Grime's tantrums about equality training - he has not worked out where he thinks the differences are between equality and "woke".
I don't think .. to repurpose WB Yeats - the centre can hold with external pressures and internal tensions; it's shonky enough already, but that is where they want to put the overwhelming focus.
Go get that coffee.
https://www.twitter.com/jaheale/status/1936368610290581872
When two party politics re-establishes itself the two parties might be Reform and the Lib Dems.
But I repeat, the polling was done ages ago - early June
The genius of the Welsh approach was that in the UK default limits have very few specific signs relying on the presence of lamp posts, so it was both relatively widespread change and very inexpensive. The cost was around £35m compared to eg the £330 million that has just been spent on changing ONE junction of the M25 (Wisley).
I haven't watched him that much but I have seen him miss two easy stumpings and a routine edge. You wouldn't expect to see that in a fifty match Test career.
The first of the stumpings (against Pakistan) would have raised a laugh in a game of beach cricket. Batsman went charging down the pitch and missed the ball, leaving him stranded so far out of his ground he didn't even bother to try and get back. Smith dropped the ball but would have had enough time to pick it up had he not clumsily kicked the ball away to square leg. It was inept.
The guy is not a wicketkeeper. He is a good batter who has picked up the gloves to improve his chances of selection. England for some reason have bought this. Proper wicketkeepers, and there are many available, must be seething.
https://x.com/SkyCricket/status/1936388428175643046
Google gives this link,
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/reform-ipsos-record-9-point-lead-over-labour-public-satisfaction-government-nears-lowest-point
but a page not found error if you click on it.
Curious.
ipsos themselves tweeted it earlier. Now they’ve deleted
It appears in today’s Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/21/voters-angry-at-establishment/
Yet it’s REALLY old for a “new” poll
Peculiar
See my comment above. And why claim this is a new poll when the polling actually dates from v early June
Telegraph holding a poll back for the right article? What?
Incidentally, the Telegraph admitted accidentally posting a fake story the other day about a family who couldn't afford to go on five holidays despite earning £345k a year.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/telegraph-private-school-fake-story-394141/
This needs a pb supersleuth
The research on how people use search engines died that many people often don't look beyond the to result, and now that's an AI summary. There's a massive amount of power to shape the perception of truth now held by whoever controls LLMs and their training.
It does seem like Musk has only said this out loud. It's exceptionally dangerous for democracy. Makes arguments about BBC bias feel incredibly quaint and old-fashioned.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, has entrusted his survival to a previously unknown group of deeply vetted bodyguards, amid increasingly overt threats from Israel on his life, according to officials in Tehran.
Believing Israeli intelligence has comprehensively penetrated the regime, the unit was kept so secret that even senior officials within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were unaware of its existence.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/21/how-trump-and-netanyahu-could-kill-khamenei/
That Tehran tv show is appears to be closer to fact.
In his case it’s almost certainly hopeguessing
https://tinyurl.com/3nkd9ct6
Of course the more polls have Reform the main alternative to Labour, the more seats Conservative voters are likely to tactically vote Reform (given Labour have a big majority at the last GE in most seats LD and Green supporters already tactically voted Labour under FPTP). In Reform v Tory marginals like Clacton and Brentwood and Ongar you could even see some Labour, LD and Green voters vote Conservative to keep Reform out
I don't see the point in them conducting a test and keeping it on the downlow. It's not like they could keep it secret.
https://x.com/rpsagainsttrump/status/1936249722483658821?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw
The Tories are more at risk if Reform remain the main party of the right and we don't get PR, though some fiscally conservative middle class voters would still prefer the Tory party to Reform
You can only deter attacks if you have the required numbers of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver them.
Exceptionally dangerous indeed. We're delegating our choices to machines.
Just plenty of talk.
Perhaps Soviet era tower blocks aren't to his liking.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ljg7v0vmpo
The Tories fate ultimately depends on the next general election result, if Reform overtake them on votes and seats at the next general election then the Tories are probably fated to merge with them, in reality a takeover, under FPTP. With as you say most One Nation Tories joining the LDs rather than the new merged Reform led party. If Reform win an overall majority they may not even be interested anyway so a rump of Tory MPs could stay and join Labour and LD MPs on the opposition benches and hope their populism falls flat.
If we get a Labour and LD government in a hung parliament that introduces PR though the Tories could easily survive, even 15% of the vote would give them around 100 MPs
The final day of Ascot kicks off in about an hour so one final chance to see a Prince and become a pauper (and probably eat a porpoise if you attend one of the many on-course eateries).
Selections - Day Five:
Chesham Stakes: TREANMOR
Hardwicke Stakes: REBEL'S ROMANCE
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes: INISHERIN (win), FLORA OF BERMUDA (each way)
Jersey Stakes: SARACEN
Meanwhile he's lost nearly all of his top IRGC leadedlrship, while Russia and Turkey look to support him.