Here’s the Bhutanese silk in question. Perhaps seeing it will offer ideas
lol, the cheeky book.
reminds us of his ‘young Hitler’ screensaver in an earlier post.
Equally unsurprising is the apparent paucity of books, with the empty shelves
Ah, baited again, you're so easy
There is actually a political object in that photo, a deeply political object. I wonder if anyone can spot it
The answer is - I promise - genuinely hilarious and weird
I am serious. There is a remarkable political object in this photo. It's right there
And no, it's not the Enoch book designed to wind up zoophile dimwits like @IanB2
Look again! If you can find it and name it I will buy you a bottle of Purcari Negru, next time we meet in Moldova
Because we ordinary folk all have an Enoch Powell book hanging about to wind people up in a photo.
It will amaze you, because you;re not very clever, but I also have
1. A copy of the Communist Manifesto
2. A (rather admiring) biography of Che Guevara
3. A copy of Ten Days That Shook The World
4. The Anarchist's Cookbook
And so on, and so on. I am a politics geek that studied philosophy that now writes about politics. I know. Amazing. I imagine you are the same with widget surveying
Possession of item four is technically illegal, people have been prosecuted under the Terrorism Act for having a copy. I would destroy it
It’s also shit. To the point where some wondered if it was a plant by the FBI to get would be anarchists to kill themselves.
Anyone who has done old style chemistry laughs at it.
{thinks of the time I watched someone swabbing up a spill of sulphuric and nitric acid with cotton wool and a pair of tongs….}
Here’s the Bhutanese silk in question. Perhaps seeing it will offer ideas
lol, the cheeky book.
reminds us of his ‘young Hitler’ screensaver in an earlier post.
Equally unsurprising is the apparent paucity of books, with the empty shelves
Ah, baited again, you're so easy
There is actually a political object in that photo, a deeply political object. I wonder if anyone can spot it
The answer is - I promise - genuinely hilarious and weird
I am serious. There is a remarkable political object in this photo. It's right there
And no, it's not the Enoch book designed to wind up zoophile dimwits like @IanB2
Look again! If you can find it and name it I will buy you a bottle of Purcari Negru, next time we meet in Moldova
Because we ordinary folk all have an Enoch Powell book hanging about to wind people up in a photo.
It will amaze you, because you;re not very clever, but I also have
1. A copy of the Communist Manifesto
2. A (rather admiring) biography of Che Guevara
3. A copy of Ten Days That Shook The World
4. The Anarchist's Cookbook
And so on, and so on. I am a politics geek that studied philosophy that now writes about politics. I know. Amazing. I imagine you are the same with widget surveying
Possession of item four is technically illegal, people have been prosecuted under the Terrorism Act for having a copy. I would destroy it
It’s also shit. To the point where some wondered if it was a plant by the FBI to get would be anarchists to kill themselves.
Anyone who has done old style chemistry laughs at it.
{thinks of the time I watched someone swabbing up a spill of sulphuric and nitric acid with cotton wool and a pair of tongs….}
"I am a politics geek that studied philosophy that now writes about politics."
The last words that were heard from our correspondent before he disappeared into Alligator Alcatraz.
Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments
President preparing executive order to allow 401k plans to tap broad pool of alternative assets
Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would open up 401k plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds, according to three people who have been briefed on the president’s plans.
These investments would run a broad spectrum of asset classes, from digital assets to metals and funds focused on corporate takeovers, private loans and infrastructure deals.
The executive order would instruct Washington regulatory agencies to investigate the remaining hurdles needed to allow for such alternative investments to be included in professionally managed funds used by 401k savers, these people said.
“President Trump is committed to restoring prosperity for everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future. No decisions should be deemed official, however, unless they come from President Trump himself,” the White House said in a statement to the Financial Times.
In the US, 401k plans are among the most popular ways working Americans save for retirement, allowing them to invest a portion of their salaries in publicly traded securities tax-free. But virtually all such investments are housed in public stock and bond mutual funds.
The executive order would accelerate Trump’s push to bring crypto investments to the mainstream, after his administration has dropped prominent enforcement actions against large digital asset-trading groups.
Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments
President preparing executive order to allow 401k plans to tap broad pool of alternative assets
Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would open up 401k plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds, according to three people who have been briefed on the president’s plans.
These investments would run a broad spectrum of asset classes, from digital assets to metals and funds focused on corporate takeovers, private loans and infrastructure deals.
The executive order would instruct Washington regulatory agencies to investigate the remaining hurdles needed to allow for such alternative investments to be included in professionally managed funds used by 401k savers, these people said.
“President Trump is committed to restoring prosperity for everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future. No decisions should be deemed official, however, unless they come from President Trump himself,” the White House said in a statement to the Financial Times.
In the US, 401k plans are among the most popular ways working Americans save for retirement, allowing them to invest a portion of their salaries in publicly traded securities tax-free. But virtually all such investments are housed in public stock and bond mutual funds.
The executive order would accelerate Trump’s push to bring crypto investments to the mainstream, after his administration has dropped prominent enforcement actions against large digital asset-trading groups.
Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments
President preparing executive order to allow 401k plans to tap broad pool of alternative assets
Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would open up 401k plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds, according to three people who have been briefed on the president’s plans.
These investments would run a broad spectrum of asset classes, from digital assets to metals and funds focused on corporate takeovers, private loans and infrastructure deals.
The executive order would instruct Washington regulatory agencies to investigate the remaining hurdles needed to allow for such alternative investments to be included in professionally managed funds used by 401k savers, these people said.
“President Trump is committed to restoring prosperity for everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future. No decisions should be deemed official, however, unless they come from President Trump himself,” the White House said in a statement to the Financial Times.
In the US, 401k plans are among the most popular ways working Americans save for retirement, allowing them to invest a portion of their salaries in publicly traded securities tax-free. But virtually all such investments are housed in public stock and bond mutual funds.
The executive order would accelerate Trump’s push to bring crypto investments to the mainstream, after his administration has dropped prominent enforcement actions against large digital asset-trading groups.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
IanB2: Does your dog have a favorite place to visit? (Dogs may have different preferences than we do. When I was growing up on a tributary of the Columbia river, our dog loved to roll in the dead salmon we encountered from time to time.)
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
We shouldn’t forget the cover-up of the Afghan resettlement scheme. The lives of British people have been placed at risk - and yet, many in the previous and current government can’t even bring themselves to apologise, let alone pledge to reverse the granting of refugee status
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
It's the best analogy I can think of for the Afghan Scandal
It's like a bank run. Governments, like banks, run largely on trust. If that vanishes, then banks are in deep shit because they do not have the cash on hand to please all savers. Likewise, if a government runs out of trust - if we all believe they are lying to us, via superinjunctions and malignant law/policing - they do not have the power to repress the entire citizenry
We are nowhere near that crisis yet. As of now the problem is local, strange, disturbing - but local. Like Northern Rock
Bank runs usually go two ways. They can fizzle out but cause bad reputational damage to a few institutions - LIBOR? BCCI? - or they turn into enormous crises, chain reactions of mistrust piled on mistrust which pose grave systemic risks to the entire Establishment - the Great Depression
Some pundits are comparing the Afghan scandal to Watergate. That's daft, they are not at all alike. Think more of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, but - potentially - applied specifically to British politics
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
You think Robert Peston caused the Afghanis to come to the UK?
The person responsible for putting all the names in an Excel spreadsheet is definitely cut from the same cloth of incompetence. Does he have a brother?
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
You think Robert Peston caused the Afghanis to come to the UK?
The person responsible for putting all the names in an Excel spreadsheet is definitely cut from the same cloth of incompetence. Does he have a brother?
I could easily see Pesto telling a security expert “A password protected Excel file is safe”
Reported that in both @dartfordbc byelections, Reform UK has gained the seat from the Conservatives. Stephen Ridley wins Maypole and Leyton Cross ward, while James Buchan takes Stone House ward"
Tories took Prestatyn on 21.7% from an indy on 21% and Ref on high teens They were defending from second in a multi member ward, the first place green last time had a big personal vote so the Tories held by pretty much standimg still whilst greens collapsed
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
I remember listening to the World Service back around the time of Merkels 'come on in' idea. They were recording around the Afghan border. Local old guy almost spitting tacks along the lines of "Why are you letting that guy through?! He is a child molester!! And that guy! He is a ....". "Oh - that guy - lovely! Family man! Loves his wife - great! Very good carpenter!".
I felt at the time he should have been employed as the arbiter.
A pioneering IVF technique combining DNA from three people to protect a baby from a rare genetic disease has been used in Britain, leading to a healthy cohort of eight babies with no sign of serious disease, scientists said Wednesday.
Four girls and four boys, including one set of twins, were born healthy after scientists used the treatment to prevent mothers with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA from transmitting the condition to their children, scientists at Newcastle University in northern England said in a statement Wednesday.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
You think Robert Peston caused the Afghanis to come to the UK?
The person responsible for putting all the names in an Excel spreadsheet is definitely cut from the same cloth of incompetence. Does he have a brother?
I could easily see Pesto telling a security expert “A password protected Excel file is safe”
There's no way they will find the 'hidden' Excel tab now that I have a password on it!!!
Here’s the Bhutanese silk in question. Perhaps seeing it will offer ideas
Definitely use it to make cushions.
As @Cyclefree (on X) pointed out elsewhere that would require cutting it up. So either use it as a throw on the sofa or follow her advice and get someone to make it into a quilt cover..
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
It's the best analogy I can think of for the Afghan Scandal
It's like a bank run. Governments, like banks, run largely on trust. If that vanishes, then banks are in deep shit because they do not have the cash on hand to please all savers. Likewise, if a government runs out of trust - if we all believe they are lying to us, via superinjunctions and malignant law/policing - they do not have the power to repress the entire citizenry
We are nowhere near that crisis yet. As of now the problem is local, strange, disturbing - but local. Like Northern Rock
Bank runs usually go two ways. They can fizzle out but cause bad reputational damage to a few institutions - LIBOR? BCCI? - or they turn into enormous crises, chain reactions of mistrust piled on mistrust which pose grave systemic risks to the entire Establishment - the Great Depression
Some pundits are comparing the Afghan scandal to Watergate. That's daft, they are not at all alike. Think more of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, but - potentially - applied specifically to British politics
If the subject that can't be discussed is Britain's Chernobyl, maybe we should be looking for an analogy from the period when the legitimacy of the Eastern Bloc regimes collapsed instead.
I had no idea novelty tea towels were still a thing.
School tea towels with 30 self portraits, one drawn by each child in the class, were a big thing when I were a lad.
Sadly all novetly tea towel are cotton. When, of course, the only acceptable material is Irish or Belgian linen.
When our boys all went to our small village primary school they and all their classmates had to draw a self potrait and sign it, I still have that tea towel with the contributions from all three of them never used.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
It's the best analogy I can think of for the Afghan Scandal
It's like a bank run. Governments, like banks, run largely on trust. If that vanishes, then banks are in deep shit because they do not have the cash on hand to please all savers. Likewise, if a government runs out of trust - if we all believe they are lying to us, via superinjunctions and malignant law/policing - they do not have the power to repress the entire citizenry
We are nowhere near that crisis yet. As of now the problem is local, strange, disturbing - but local. Like Northern Rock
Bank runs usually go two ways. They can fizzle out but cause bad reputational damage to a few institutions - LIBOR? BCCI? - or they turn into enormous crises, chain reactions of mistrust piled on mistrust which pose grave systemic risks to the entire Establishment - the Great Depression
Some pundits are comparing the Afghan scandal to Watergate. That's daft, they are not at all alike. Think more of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, but - potentially - applied specifically to British politics
Its not the same thing at all.
A bank run is like an avalanche, once it starts it either peters out or snowballs into a bigger crisis. If it reaches the avalanche stage, then people respond to the crisis by going to withdraw their cash, because if they don't they stand to lose out so it becomes the rational thing to do . . . which then makes the bank run getting worse a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The fact that the mistrust and withdrawals are happening simultaneously, and the bank can't handle that, is why a bank run is so serious.
Government doesn't work that way. If people don't trust the buggers in charge there's little imminent pressure to act in the same way as there is with a bank run. It leads to simmering resentment but no immediate sharp crisis.
Reform will be disappointed with the three welsh results - two third places and a distant second in Pontypridd. However they were rampant in Kent and Essex.
Neath Port Talbot - Baglan
Lab 708 Ind 532 RefUK 447 PC 149 Con 19 Green 18 LD 13
US President Donald Trump says he's ordered the US Justice Department to produce "all pertinent" grand jury testimony related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted minutes later: "We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts."
Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has delayed the planned launches of its new electric Range Rover and electric Jaguar models to give it time for more testing and for demand to pick up, the Guardian can reveal.
JLR has written to customers waiting for the Range Rover Electric to inform them that deliveries of the new version of the model will not start until next year, after initially aiming for late 2025.
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
Of course it is old news. If it were new news, say within the past half century, he'd have worn gloves so not to leave his dabs and DNA where the camera helpfully shows police where to swab.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
You think Robert Peston caused the Afghanis to come to the UK?
The person responsible for putting all the names in an Excel spreadsheet is definitely cut from the same cloth of incompetence. Does he have a brother?
Using an Excel spreadsheet for everything under the sun is SOP for most non-techies and about half of all techies. When people ask what happened to the dream of end-user computing, the answer is Excel.
iirc even during the pandemic there were statistical anomalies where Covid ran up against Excel's data limits.
The real underlying error is collating all the information into one spreadsheet in the first place. Note this is a counter-example for Dominic Cummings' demands for combining disparate data feeds at Number 10.
Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has delayed the planned launches of its new electric Range Rover and electric Jaguar models to give it time for more testing and for demand to pick up, the Guardian can reveal.
JLR has written to customers waiting for the Range Rover Electric to inform them that deliveries of the new version of the model will not start until next year, after initially aiming for late 2025.
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
The only resemblance that Johnson had to Churchill...
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
The only resemblance that Johnson had to Churchill...
Didn't both run up huge government debt that takes generations to pay off?
Reform will be disappointed with the three welsh results - two third places and a distant second in Pontypridd. However they were rampant in Kent and Essex.
Neath Port Talbot - Baglan
Lab 708 Ind 532 RefUK 447 PC 149 Con 19 Green 18 LD 13
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
Although the thrust of the criticism that drew in the Tory rebels and led to the PM’s downfall was of inactivity and passivity; a lack of vigour in pursuing the war not just in Norway but since 1939. And surely the failure of government foreign policy before the war played a significant part?
Not the most well-known quote from the Amery speech: I remember that many years ago in East Africa a young friend of mine went lion hunting. He secured a sleeping car on the railway and had it detached from the train at a siding near where he expected to find a certain man-eating lion. He went to rest and dream of hunting his lion in the morning. Unfortunately, the lion was out man-hunting that night. He clambered on to the rear of the car, scrabbled open the sliding door, and ate my friend. That is in brief the story of our initiative over Norway.
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
The only resemblance that Johnson had to Churchill...
Didn't both run up huge government debt that takes generations to pay off?
Churchill had something of an unarguable excuse. Admittedly Johnson had Covid which was also a major crisis.
That’s a seat they should never have lost given its demographics and profile. My guess is rather a lot of people voted ReFuck thinking that they couldn’t possibly win and were rather shocked by the ensuing tsunami, leading them to play safe this time.
As few as one in 16 Afghans identified in a data breach had genuine claims for asylum, defence sources have said, raising fresh questions about how many bogus claimants might have slipped through the net.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
I remember listening to the World Service back around the time of Merkels 'come on in' idea. They were recording around the Afghan border. Local old guy almost spitting tacks along the lines of "Why are you letting that guy through?! He is a child molester!! And that guy! He is a ....". "Oh - that guy - lovely! Family man! Loves his wife - great! Very good carpenter!".
I felt at the time he should have been employed as the arbiter.
"A family who claim The Salt Path author Raynor Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from their business say trusting her was their "biggest mistake".
Ros Hemmings and her daughter Debbie, from Pwllheli in Gwynedd, allege Ms Winn - who worked for their property business in the early 2000s - stole around £64,000."
As promised yesterday, and posted early as it’s another warm blue sky morning here in the north, with sunlight streaming through the window, yet there’s snow still on all the mountains. This is the spot where the Royal Navy landed the French Foreign Legion in 1940 - hailed by the info board as the inspirational first allied victory of the war - although of course the victory was short lived as the non-Norwegian troops were all pulled back to the UK once France had fallen. Narvik itself is across the fjord, on the right of the photo.
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
Politically notably ironic as it was the principal author of the Norway debacle who succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
The only resemblance that Johnson had to Churchill...
Didn't both run up huge government debt that takes generations to pay off?
Churchill had something of an unarguable excuse. Admittedly Johnson had Covid which was also a major crisis.
It is odd that the Tories do not use the pandemic as an excuse for their profligacy, although I suppose they saw with Labour and the GFC that the country is not looking for excuses.
Comments
Anyone who has done old style chemistry laughs at it.
{thinks of the time I watched someone swabbing up a spill of sulphuric and nitric acid with cotton wool and a pair of tongs….}
It’s worth a visit on an open day. A restored windmill in a suburban garden. Just because.
The last words that were heard from our correspondent before he disappeared into Alligator Alcatraz.
He completed the first one, played around with it. And realised that he had no space to build another. So he sold it. For quite a lot of money.
He took his wife on a top notch cruise. Better than the ones all her friends went on.
As he told it, from then on, she went from complaining about his hobby to nagging him to get in the shed and build the next one….
Seems like a better retirement plan than playing with crypto.
Last October, it emerged that a 16-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at military accommodation in Staffordshire had come to the UK under Arap. But there are now question marks over whether the boy might have come to the UK under the ARR, the existence of which the Government had not revealed at the time.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/17/vast-majority-afghans-kill-list-bogus-asylum-seekers-leak/
"Liverpool. Sefton Park
Green 468
Lab 211
LD 193
RefUK 54
Con 14
Green hold"
https://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/19413/local-council-elections-17th-july?page=4
Con 410
LD 355
Grn 290
Ref 190
Lab 44
Ind 10
Communist 9
Con gain from LD
Lee Anderson MP
@LeeAndersonMP_
My new jacket.
Beautiful 🇬🇧🇬🇧
https://x.com/LeeAndersonMP_/status/1945884508261158949
derek guy
@dieworkwear
·
2h
I believe this jacket is from Dobell, a company that produces their tailoring in Turkey.
Sept 22by: LD 582; Con 382; Lab 250; Ind 60
2019: LD 774, 635; Con 587; Grn 389; Ind 242; Lab 198"
https://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/19413/local-council-elections-17th-july
We shouldn’t forget the cover-up of the Afghan resettlement scheme. The lives of British people have been placed at risk - and yet, many in the previous and current government can’t even bring themselves to apologise, let alone pledge to reverse the granting of refugee status
Tory hold in Prestatyn
Reform say theyve won both Dartford seats, not seen a rexult though so unconfirmed
It's like a bank run. Governments, like banks, run largely on trust. If that vanishes, then banks are in deep shit because they do not have the cash on hand to please all savers. Likewise, if a government runs out of trust - if we all believe they are lying to us, via superinjunctions and malignant law/policing - they do not have the power to repress the entire citizenry
We are nowhere near that crisis yet. As of now the problem is local, strange, disturbing - but local. Like Northern Rock
Bank runs usually go two ways. They can fizzle out but cause bad reputational damage to a few institutions - LIBOR? BCCI? - or they turn into enormous crises, chain reactions of mistrust piled on mistrust which pose grave systemic risks to the entire Establishment - the Great Depression
Some pundits are comparing the Afghan scandal to Watergate. That's daft, they are not at all alike. Think more of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, but - potentially - applied specifically to British politics
If I were every to have the time, energy and inclination for an affair, I would absolutely not be spending it at a Coldplay concert.
@councilsUK
Reported that in both @dartfordbc byelections, Reform UK has gained the seat from the Conservatives. Stephen Ridley wins Maypole and Leyton Cross ward, while James Buchan takes Stone House ward"
https://x.com/councilsUK/status/1945977292359880995
They were defending from second in a multi member ward, the first place green last time had a big personal vote so the Tories held by pretty much standimg still whilst greens collapsed
I felt at the time he should have been employed as the arbiter.
Statement: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2025/07/mitochondrialdonationtreatment
@danny__kruger
I gave a speech today in an empty chamber.
https://x.com/danny__kruger/status/1945963482920169677
Con 230
Ind 223
Ref UK 195
PC 152
Green 144
Lab 95
LD 19
Con 21.74%
Ind 21.08%
Ref 18.43%
PC 14.37%
Grn 13.61%
Lab 8.98%
LD 1.80%
PC 540
RefUK 253
Lab 203
Con 27
Green 23
PC hold
PC 51.63%
Ref 24.19%
Lab 19.41%
Con 2.58%
Grn 2.20%
Stone House
RefUK 475
Lab 299
Con 190
Green 87
Maypole and Leyton Cross
RefUK 303
Con 158
Lab 71
Green 32"
St Martin's (Basildon) council by-election result:
REF: 44.6% (+44.6)
LAB: 35.1% (-8.4)
CON: 13.5% (-9.9)
GRN: 3.5% (-10.6)
LDEM: 1.6% (-9.0)
TUSC: 1.1% (-7.3)
+/- 2024
A bank run is like an avalanche, once it starts it either peters out or snowballs into a bigger crisis. If it reaches the avalanche stage, then people respond to the crisis by going to withdraw their cash, because if they don't they stand to lose out so it becomes the rational thing to do . . . which then makes the bank run getting worse a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The fact that the mistrust and withdrawals are happening simultaneously, and the bank can't handle that, is why a bank run is so serious.
Government doesn't work that way. If people don't trust the buggers in charge there's little imminent pressure to act in the same way as there is with a bank run. It leads to simmering resentment but no immediate sharp crisis.
https://x.com/GBPolitcs/status/1945962186888868317
It's not old news.
In the last few years Epping has brought us invasions of Scotland, Spain and more.
Barron, Ray (Ref) 938
Elston-Thompson, Leah (Lab) 140
Pert, Jeremy (Con) 1689 ELECTED
Spencer, Scott (Green) 1037
Turnout 34.8%
Neath Port Talbot - Baglan
Lab 708
Ind 532
RefUK 447
PC 149
Con 19
Green 18
LD 13
Lab hold
Eccleshall & Gnosall (Staffordshire) Council By-Election Result:
🌳 CON: 44.4% (+10.1)
🌍 GRN: 27.3% (+8.2)
➡️ RFM: 24.7% (-10.3)
🌹 LAB: 3.7% (-3.9)
No LDM (-4.1) as previous.
Conservative GAIN from Reform.
Changes w/ 2025.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9w1014rlq9o
The results would be used by the government to decide whether higher fines could be rolled out across the country.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89envdgvvqo
I wonder what they will decide?
JLR has written to customers waiting for the Range Rover Electric to inform them that deliveries of the new version of the model will not start until next year, after initially aiming for late 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/18/jaguar-land-rover-delays-launch-range-rover-electric
The ensuing debate in the Commons is of course famous and politically notable for bringing about Chamberlain’s resignation.
Today’s temperature max here is forecast at - depending on which site you go to - a staggering 25-27C.
iirc even during the pandemic there were statistical anomalies where Covid ran up against Excel's data limits.
The real underlying error is collating all the information into one spreadsheet in the first place. Note this is a counter-example for Dominic Cummings' demands for combining disparate data feeds at Number 10.
Not the most well-known quote from the Amery speech: I remember that many years ago in East Africa a young friend of mine went lion hunting. He secured a sleeping car on the railway and had it detached from the train at a siding near where he expected to find a certain man-eating lion. He went to rest and dream of hunting his lion in the morning. Unfortunately, the lion was out man-hunting that night. He clambered on to the rear of the car, scrabbled open the sliding door, and ate my friend. That is in brief the story of our initiative over Norway.
Come on, I know it's early, but the pedantry police never sleep.
"A family who claim The Salt Path author Raynor Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from their business say trusting her was their "biggest mistake".
Ros Hemmings and her daughter Debbie, from Pwllheli in Gwynedd, allege Ms Winn - who worked for their property business in the early 2000s - stole around £64,000."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80p2pzgpmgo