We need to talk about electoral reform as it has betting implications – politicalbetting.com
The Supplementary Vote is coming back for all elections for Mayor in the English devolution bill – at last the Starmer government has a sensible constitutional reform in play https://t.co/0p7ywTMFgK
Comments
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An AV thread.
Are we being punished for Leon’s crimes?2 -
On topic, this is again about favouring Labour as you obliquely note. They are assuming that in a forced choice of the big two in any given area they will be most people’s second choice.
I’m not sure they’re right. How many people will understand the system? Or even use it? (Do we have statistics from when it was used before as to the numbers who used one vote only?)
My instinct, which is of course usually only slightly more accurate than Leon’s, is that the mayoral elections are seen as a free hit against the whole party system and the value is probably in backing Greens and Independents, particularly if Reform have bad press over their local council performances.1 -
Polanski is the obvious candidate, already a member of the London Assembly, and potentially the next Green leader.ydoethur said:On topic, this is again about favouring Labour as you obliquely note. They are assuming that in a forced choice of the big two in any given area they will be most people’s second choice.
I’m not sure they’re right. How many people will understand the system? Or even use it? (Do we have statistics from when it was used before as to the numbers who used one vote only?)
My instinct, which is of course usually only slightly more accurate than Leon’s, is that the mayoral elections are seen as a free hit against the whole party system and the value is probably in backing Greens and Independents, particularly if Reform have bad press over their local council performances.
Indeed, as a former LibDem himself, one wonders whether there is scope for a Green-LibDem deal to take on the major parties in the capital?1 -
@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
For example in 2012ydoethur said:On topic, this is again about favouring Labour as you obliquely note. They are assuming that in a forced choice of the big two in any given area they will be most people’s second choice.
I’m not sure they’re right. How many people will understand the system? Or even use it? (Do we have statistics from when it was used before as to the numbers who used one vote only?)
My instinct, which is of course usually only slightly more accurate than Leon’s, is that the mayoral elections are seen as a free hit against the whole party system and the value is probably in backing Greens and Independents, particularly if Reform have bad press over their local council performances.
Of the 375,377 votes for the non top 2 parties just 185,235 expressed a second preference.
PS I note obliquely is a synonym for subtle.2 -
It could have been the Sex Pistols, perhaps?Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay1 -
This is why I buy VIP tickets, nobody takes camera shots of us.Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
https://x.com/tedgioia/status/1946017729833484668Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
Their anger and embarrassment at being shown on big electronic screens could make them want to Rage Against The Machine.ydoethur said:
It could have been the Sex Pistols, perhaps?Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay2 -
Jenrick into 20/1 from 33s in the header but still not quoted by Hills. TSE's bookie won't take my tenner.0
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"It is very disappointing that Sir Keir Starmer didn’t go for a more equitable voting system such as the single transferable vote."
Agreed.0 -
Stables and doors come to mind but it is not a good thing that parties of all stripes are wanting to constantly muck about with the electoral systems to their obvious and patent advantage. Democracy is under enough strain without the players changing their rules to their advantage.
There was a time when a quasi independent body like a Royal Commission would have looked at this. Now, whatever helps us is good. I emphasise that this is not a party political point. The Conservatives' changes were equally blatant.4 -
It is of course a good job it was not Sir Fred and She Who Must Not Be Named, or Coldplay might have been imprisoned for contempt.BartholomewRoberts said:
Their anger and embarrassment at being shown on big electronic screens could make them want to Rage Against The Machine.ydoethur said:
It could have been the Sex Pistols, perhaps?Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
Suicide implies there was another, superior strategy they could have adopted. If there is, I'd love to see it.Foxy said:
It is a bit sad to see the company commit suicide.FrancisUrquhart said: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.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/18/jaguar-land-rover-delays-launch-range-rover-electric
I could see the electric RR being a success. If you think about the typical usage and the buying demographic, it's very well suited to BEV.
The Jaguar is a lot more risky, with a lot more riding on it. There have been two conspicuous successes in that space (Tacyan and Wraith) but do Jaguar have the product engineering capabilties of Porsche and BMW? They might in this case, but probably not.
0 -
I have been away on the first trip for my latest business. What crimes have I missed?ydoethur said:An AV thread.
Are we being punished for Leon’s crimes?0 -
When I worked there the people on Jag projects were the ones deemed not good enough to work on Land RoverDura_Ace said:
Suicide implies there was another, superior strategy they could have adopted. If there is, I'd love to see it.Foxy said:
It is a bit sad to see the company commit suicide.FrancisUrquhart said: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.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/18/jaguar-land-rover-delays-launch-range-rover-electric
I could see the electric RR being a success. If you think about the typical usage and the buying demographic, it's very well suited to BEV.
The Jaguar is a lot more risky, with a lot more riding on it. There have been two conspicuous successes in that space (Tacyan and Wraith) but do Jaguar have the product engineering capabilties of Porsche and BMW? They might in this case, but probably not.0 -
Trump is going to sue Rupert Murdoch for publishing a letter to Epstein
Which means discovery...0 -
No one ever accused you of just being very shy.TheScreamingEagles said:
This is why I buy VIP tickets, nobody takes camera shots of us.Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
I guess they are looking at Aston Martin and the fact that they were a legacy brand with a crap situation until the DB7 came along and brought them back to life as a desirable luxury brand. It was not the best car, had crappy ford door openers and other kit I remember but it had the right image, styling and heritage.Dura_Ace said:
Suicide implies there was another, superior strategy they could have adopted. If there is, I'd love to see it.Foxy said:
It is a bit sad to see the company commit suicide.FrancisUrquhart said: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.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/18/jaguar-land-rover-delays-launch-range-rover-electric
I could see the electric RR being a success. If you think about the typical usage and the buying demographic, it's very well suited to BEV.
The Jaguar is a lot more risky, with a lot more riding on it. There have been two conspicuous successes in that space (Tacyan and Wraith) but do Jaguar have the product engineering capabilties of Porsche and BMW? They might in this case, but probably not.
Jaguar have to get their first new model absolutely bang on in the looks and capabilities end of things and they could reboot but the Aston Martin story is their only hope I think.0 -
Does it really matter who we elect. They are equally as bad as each other.3
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They did, up until the age of 19.Nigelb said:
No one ever accused you of just being very shy.TheScreamingEagles said:
This is why I buy VIP tickets, nobody takes camera shots of us.Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay
At university I had a brashness chip installed.0 -
Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.7 -
It’s absolutely vital for us at PB.squareroot2 said:Does it really matter who we elect. They are equally as bad as each other.
Depending on who wins the election it establishes which posters have to tie themselves up like pretzels defending actions they know are stupid and which posters can sit back and laugh and claim their side would not have done as badly, despite their side doing as badly last time whilst a few can slag either side off safe in the knowledge they aren’t getting a sniff of power.13 -
Well, SV is better than FPTP (or, the better descriptor, HPBP - highest pile of bits of paper
).
Off topic, highly ambiguous headline on the Beeb this morning: "Unique 1.5m year-old ice to be melted to unlock mystery". I wondered what would be so special about a 1 year old 1.5m length of ice. Turns out it's a length of ice that is 1500000 million years old (at one end, presumably). I even used to work in this area, mostly on sediments, and still didn't get the headline!0 -
Not to forget the critical fact for PB that depending on who wins establishes whether books are profitable or loss-making.boulay said:
It’s absolutely vital for us at PB.squareroot2 said:Does it really matter who we elect. They are equally as bad as each other.
Depending on who wins the election it establishes which posters have to tie themselves up like pretzels defending actions they know are stupid and which posters can sit back and laugh and claim their side would not have done as badly, despite their side doing as badly last time whilst a few can slag either side off safe in the knowledge they aren’t getting a sniff of power.0 -
1500000 million years old is very impressive, I didn't think the universe was that old!Selebian said:Well, SV is better than FPTP (or, the better descriptor, HPBP - highest pile of bits of paper
).
Off topic, highly ambiguous headline on the Beeb this morning: "Unique 1.5m year-old ice to be melted to unlock mystery". I wondered what would be so special about a 1 year old 1.5m length of ice. Turns out it's a length of ice that is 1500000 million years old (at one end, presumably). I even used to work in this area, mostly on sediments, and still didn't get the headline!2 -
"F*ck me, I will do what you tell me"?BartholomewRoberts said:
Their anger and embarrassment at being shown on big electronic screens could make them want to Rage Against The Machine.ydoethur said:
It could have been the Sex Pistols, perhaps?Scott_xP said:@svershbow
Coldplay is funny, but what's the funniest band it could have been?
And the winner is...Coldplay0 -
Well, any aware New Yorker friends of Gardenwalker who are concerned about this, and Trump trying to stop and sue the WSJ for publishing something he doesn’t like, will no doubt sigh with relief that they are not in the UK where free speech goes to die because one person got locked up for a tweet (which shouldn’t have happened) and we proscribed PA.DavidL said:Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.2 -
@LongTimeHistory
Trump caught lying about knowing Prince Andrew & Epstein files—by Fox News.
TRUMP: I don't know Prince Andrew, but it's a tough story. I don't know him, no.
FOX: Here is a photo of Trump alongside the Prince and First Lady at his party at Mar-a-Lago that Epstein also attended.
Trump claimed that he did not know Prince Andrew—but a resurfaced interview with People magazine from 2000 says otherwise—where Trump described Prince Andrew as "a lot of fun to be with."
The article was re-released in 2019—just one day after he had denied knowing Prince Andrew during this press conference.
https://x.com/LongTimeHistory/status/19456291413000889850 -
There’s always one deviant who has to bring gambling into discussions on this site.BartholomewRoberts said:
Not to forget the critical fact for PB that depending on who wins establishes whether books are profitable or loss-making.boulay said:
It’s absolutely vital for us at PB.squareroot2 said:Does it really matter who we elect. They are equally as bad as each other.
Depending on who wins the election it establishes which posters have to tie themselves up like pretzels defending actions they know are stupid and which posters can sit back and laugh and claim their side would not have done as badly, despite their side doing as badly last time whilst a few can slag either side off safe in the knowledge they aren’t getting a sniff of power.9 -
The BBC has forgotten the hyphen between m and year and our Selebian has also been forgetful…BartholomewRoberts said:
1500000 million years old is very impressive, I didn't think the universe was that old!Selebian said:Well, SV is better than FPTP (or, the better descriptor, HPBP - highest pile of bits of paper
).
Off topic, highly ambiguous headline on the Beeb this morning: "Unique 1.5m year-old ice to be melted to unlock mystery". I wondered what would be so special about a 1 year old 1.5m length of ice. Turns out it's a length of ice that is 1500000 million years old (at one end, presumably). I even used to work in this area, mostly on sediments, and still didn't get the headline!0 -
Whilst I agree with the sentiment we should be very alert to the motes in our own eyes as the super injunction and now second injunction has all too clearly demonstrated. I take this message as a clarion call to all public prosecutors everywhere. It is an inspiring message.boulay said:
Well, any aware New Yorker friends of Gardenwalker who are concerned about this, and Trump trying to stop and sue the WSJ for publishing something he doesn’t like, will no doubt sigh with relief that they are not in the UK where free speech goes to die because one person got locked up for a tweet (which shouldn’t have happened) and we proscribed PA.DavidL said:Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.1 -
Dammit.BartholomewRoberts said:
1500000 million years old is very impressive, I didn't think the universe was that old!Selebian said:Well, SV is better than FPTP (or, the better descriptor, HPBP - highest pile of bits of paper
).
Off topic, highly ambiguous headline on the Beeb this morning: "Unique 1.5m year-old ice to be melted to unlock mystery". I wondered what would be so special about a 1 year old 1.5m length of ice. Turns out it's a length of ice that is 1500000 million years old (at one end, presumably). I even used to work in this area, mostly on sediments, and still didn't get the headline!
I decided to switch from 1.5 million to numeric to avoid any ambiguity. That went well!
I could work for the BBC!
In the field it's the unambiguous 1.5Ma0 -
From elsewhere:
Coldplay haven’t released a single for years then overnight they create four new ones.13 -
Prince Andrew, Epstein, Maxwell, and Trump are like characters created by De Sade.Scott_xP said:@LongTimeHistory
Trump caught lying about knowing Prince Andrew & Epstein files—by Fox News.
TRUMP: I don't know Prince Andrew, but it's a tough story. I don't know him, no.
FOX: Here is a photo of Trump alongside the Prince and First Lady at his party at Mar-a-Lago that Epstein also attended.
Trump claimed that he did not know Prince Andrew—but a resurfaced interview with People magazine from 2000 says otherwise—where Trump described Prince Andrew as "a lot of fun to be with."
The article was re-released in 2019—just one day after he had denied knowing Prince Andrew during this press conference.
https://x.com/LongTimeHistory/status/1945629141300088985
0 -
Trump just nominated another of his crooked lawyers (Bove) for a judgeship.DavidL said:Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.0 -
Absolutely agree and despair at the state of the UK but I do get somewhat annoyed by obnoxious US liberals thinking our issues are remotely on the same level of craptitude as the US.DavidL said:
Whilst I agree with the sentiment we should be very alert to the motes in our own eyes as the super injunction and now second injunction has all too clearly demonstrated. I take this message as a clarion call to all public prosecutors everywhere. It is an inspiring message.boulay said:
Well, any aware New Yorker friends of Gardenwalker who are concerned about this, and Trump trying to stop and sue the WSJ for publishing something he doesn’t like, will no doubt sigh with relief that they are not in the UK where free speech goes to die because one person got locked up for a tweet (which shouldn’t have happened) and we proscribed PA.DavidL said:Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.
I still find it odd how the judge “supersized” the request for the injunction to a super injunction off his own bat. That’s also concerning.
Shapps confirming on Today earlier that Starmer was briefed as were the speakers of Commons and Lords which makes the outrage and surprised sounds coming from Hoyle and Starmer yesterday pretty tedious.0 -
Lol, that describes the dynamic quite well. I think I might rebrand as 'independent free thinker' beholden to no party, assessor of all issues without fear or favour strictly on their merits. It's the soft option, I know, but sometimes in life you have to give yourself a break.boulay said:
It’s absolutely vital for us at PB.squareroot2 said:Does it really matter who we elect. They are equally as bad as each other.
Depending on who wins the election it establishes which posters have to tie themselves up like pretzels defending actions they know are stupid and which posters can sit back and laugh and claim their side would not have done as badly, despite their side doing as badly last time whilst a few can slag either side off safe in the knowledge they aren’t getting a sniff of power.2 -
Q: As Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the mire, could this bring him down?0
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900 other lawyers wrote objecting to his appointmentNigelb said:
Trump just nominated another of his crooked lawyers (Bove) for a judgeship.DavidL said:Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, was sacked as a US Attorney yesterday without any reason being stated. She has sent a memo to her colleagues:
"Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.
Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.
For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office. Our focus was really on acting “without favor.” That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law.
But we have entered a new phase where “without fear” may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.
It has been an honor to fight for those principles by your side."
And so the rule of law continues to die.0 -
Tbf, that is not really true:DavidL said:Stables and doors come to mind but it is not a good thing that parties of all stripes are wanting to constantly muck about with the electoral systems to their obvious and patent advantage. Democracy is under enough strain without the players changing their rules to their advantage.
There was a time when a quasi independent body like a Royal Commission would have looked at this. Now, whatever helps us is good. I emphasise that this is not a party political point. The Conservatives' changes were equally blatant.
1832 - franchise adjusted to widen the borough franchise to favour the Whigs
1867 - franchise adjusted to ensure the Conservatives kept control of redistricting
1885 - franchise adjusted to favour the Liberals, but as a Faustian bargain to get it through the Lords they conceded control of redistricting to the Conservatives who immediately adjusted seat boundaries to favour themselves.
1918 - franchise extended to those who 'won the war' so they could vote for 'the man who won the war'
1928 - franchise extended when CCO realised that women were majority Conservative voters.
1969 - franchise extended in the belief younger voters favoured Labour
2014 - franchise in Scotland extended because the SNP thought younger voters would vote for independence and make more of a statement to Westminster.
And almost all of those calculations were correct. 1832 and 1969 would stand out as exceptions.0 -
deleted0
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How?RochdalePioneers said:Q: As Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the mire, could this bring him down?
Remember, only one US President has ever been removed from office - and he didn't have the judiciary and Congress on his side.2 -
@NoahGarfinkelRochdalePioneers said:Q: As Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the mire, could this bring him down?
We’re now in the “walls are closing in on Trump” part of the story arc that always happens right before there are still no political or legal consequences. We’re all going to die before he does.
https://x.com/NoahGarfinkel/status/19459643657624333392 -
Arguably a number have been removed from office, just not by legal means.ydoethur said:
How?RochdalePioneers said:Q: As Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the mire, could this bring him down?
Remember, only one US President has ever been removed from office - and he didn't have the judiciary and Congress on his side.0 -
Yes, but somebody tried that with Trump and missed.boulay said:
Arguably a number have been removed from office, just not by legal means.ydoethur said:
How?RochdalePioneers said:Q: As Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the mire, could this bring him down?
Remember, only one US President has ever been removed from office - and he didn't have the judiciary and Congress on his side.
Edit - really, the one assassination designed to remove a president from office for actively political reasons, rather than hurt feelings, political principles or just what the hell, would be Garfield in 1881 - and even that was by somebody sore about not getting a diplomatic post.0 -
Bayeux tapestry bet
Placed 17th Jan 2018 £100 @ 1-2 British museum.
Settled as a loser 3rd May 2022
Contacted Ladbrokes and resettled as a winner 8th July 2025
If you have long term bets, make a note of the reference outside the bookmakers as they only keep the "settled" bets visible for ~ a year.14 -
But is the 185k just those who expressed a 2nd preference and it was one of the top 2 candidates? Or did it include those who gave a 2nd preference that was not valid?TheScreamingEagles said:
For example in 2012ydoethur said:On topic, this is again about favouring Labour as you obliquely note. They are assuming that in a forced choice of the big two in any given area they will be most people’s second choice.
I’m not sure they’re right. How many people will understand the system? Or even use it? (Do we have statistics from when it was used before as to the numbers who used one vote only?)
My instinct, which is of course usually only slightly more accurate than Leon’s, is that the mayoral elections are seen as a free hit against the whole party system and the value is probably in backing Greens and Independents, particularly if Reform have bad press over their local council performances.
Of the 375,377 votes for the non top 2 parties just 185,235 expressed a second preference.
PS I note obliquely is a synonym for subtle.0 -
I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story1
-
The Header reminds me of a section in Seth Alexander Thevoz's recent book on London Clubland (Behind Closed Doors, Robinson, 2022 £12.99) where he quotes the aristocratic grandees of Whites and Brooke's in the nineteenth century, who justified secret ballots for their own affairs but regarded them as unconscionable and unneccessary for public events such as Parliamentary elections.0
-
Exhaustive Ballot ISN'T "Quasi-AV". It's the, er, Exhaustive Ballot.
I wonder if TSE is aware of Dave Cameron (PBUH)'s opinion of AV?
0 -
Only until the next BBC scandal. I’m personally looking forward to it coming out that Naga Munchetty was the person who topped Epstein but we have to wait for Trump to release the files I guess.Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
0 -
A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.2 -
Not to mention the changes allowing Brits overseas to vote, and the later removal of the time limit, both done by Tories for political advantageydoethur said:
Tbf, that is not really true:DavidL said:Stables and doors come to mind but it is not a good thing that parties of all stripes are wanting to constantly muck about with the electoral systems to their obvious and patent advantage. Democracy is under enough strain without the players changing their rules to their advantage.
There was a time when a quasi independent body like a Royal Commission would have looked at this. Now, whatever helps us is good. I emphasise that this is not a party political point. The Conservatives' changes were equally blatant.
1832 - franchise adjusted to widen the borough franchise to favour the Whigs
1867 - franchise adjusted to ensure the Conservatives kept control of redistricting
1885 - franchise adjusted to favour the Liberals, but as a Faustian bargain to get it through the Lords they conceded control of redistricting to the Conservatives who immediately adjusted seat boundaries to favour themselves.
1918 - franchise extended to those who 'won the war' so they could vote for 'the man who won the war'
1928 - franchise extended when CCO realised that women were majority Conservative voters.
1969 - franchise extended in the belief younger voters favoured Labour
2014 - franchise in Scotland extended because the SNP thought younger voters would vote for independence and make more of a statement to Westminster.
And almost all of those calculations were correct. 1832 and 1969 would stand out as exceptions.2 -
On topic, isn't the "least worst" voting system dictated by this being for single appointment elections?
STV* is multi-member specific and would reduce to this for a single elected member.
*My understanding of STV, and how it is gamed in practice, was greatly increased by PB's Ireland election expert.
My STV enthusiastic Politics teacher never mentioned running only a single candidate in a 5 member constituency to increase your chances, or that no party would ever run 5, instead taking a punt on whether 2 or 3 candidates.0 -
The story according to social media - and I include this place in that, a bit - is that of two rich people being caught having an affair, inadvertently, by a third unrelated rich person.Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
I remember an article years back by an anthropologist who stayed with remote tribes in Africa. "What are their main topics of conversation?" "High status people contravening behavioural norms."
To be clear, I'm not berating *people* for this - I've been guilty too of taking an interest - I'm just amused by what humans choose to focus on.1 -
That interview with Maynard was quite the thing. A clearly rational, calm and humane person explains clearly what he has seen and experienced will probably have more effect long term than a hundred interviews with Palestinians who can be brushed off as having a bias.algarkirk said:A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.
His account will hold more currency as he is “one of us”. It might be wrong to see it that way but it’s true.1 -
Of the infinity of joys in Anthony Trollope the accounts of elections and how they worked, and the associated political hypocrisy are among the greatest. Found both in the Barchester (eg Dr Thorne) and the Palliser sequence. About 8,000 pages of distilled and unending delight.AugustusCarp2 said:The Header reminds me of a section in Seth Alexander Thevoz's recent book on London Clubland (Behind Closed Doors, Robinson, 2022 £12.99) where he quotes the aristocratic grandees of Whites and Brooke's in the nineteenth century, who justified secret ballots for their own affairs but regarded them as unconscionable and unneccessary for public events such as Parliamentary elections.
2 -
Turns out tariffing Brazil has knock on effects.
Who could have guessed ?
Brazil triples rare earth exports to China as Washington-Beijing rift ripples through trade
https://x.com/DavidLe76335983/status/1946020953655304322
1 -
And the requirement for photo-ID, and the forthcoming watering down of it by allowing bank cards.IanB2 said:
Not to mention the changes allowing Brits overseas to vote, and the later removal of the time limit, both done by Tories for political advantageydoethur said:
Tbf, that is not really true:DavidL said:Stables and doors come to mind but it is not a good thing that parties of all stripes are wanting to constantly muck about with the electoral systems to their obvious and patent advantage. Democracy is under enough strain without the players changing their rules to their advantage.
There was a time when a quasi independent body like a Royal Commission would have looked at this. Now, whatever helps us is good. I emphasise that this is not a party political point. The Conservatives' changes were equally blatant.
1832 - franchise adjusted to widen the borough franchise to favour the Whigs
1867 - franchise adjusted to ensure the Conservatives kept control of redistricting
1885 - franchise adjusted to favour the Liberals, but as a Faustian bargain to get it through the Lords they conceded control of redistricting to the Conservatives who immediately adjusted seat boundaries to favour themselves.
1918 - franchise extended to those who 'won the war' so they could vote for 'the man who won the war'
1928 - franchise extended when CCO realised that women were majority Conservative voters.
1969 - franchise extended in the belief younger voters favoured Labour
2014 - franchise in Scotland extended because the SNP thought younger voters would vote for independence and make more of a statement to Westminster.
And almost all of those calculations were correct. 1832 and 1969 would stand out as exceptions.
And Cameron's gerrymandering (and/or attempted gerrymandering) to create more Conservative-leaning seats.2 -
That approach doesn't really increase the chances for a given party. It does however increase the chances of the individuals from the party that the party favours getting elected.Dopermean said:On topic, isn't the "least worst" voting system dictated by this being for single appointment elections?
STV* is multi-member specific and would reduce to this for a single elected member.
*My understanding of STV, and how it is gamed in practice, was greatly increased by PB's Ireland election expert.
My STV enthusiastic Politics teacher never mentioned running only a single candidate in a 5 member constituency to increase your chances, or that no party would ever run 5, instead taking a punt on whether 2 or 3 candidates.
You're right about the single-member aspect though - I brought this up yesterday, and @bondegezou quite rightly replied that he had been talking about SV (which is appropriate for single member constituencies), not STV (which is not), and I had misread. A rogue 'T' appears to have been reinserted into the topic.0 -
Cameron described AV as "undemocratic, obscure, unfair and crazy".[77]Sunil_Prasannan said:Exhaustive Ballot ISN'T "Quasi-AV". It's the, er, Exhaustive Ballot.
I wonder if TSE is aware of Dave Cameron (PBUH)'s opinion of AV?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum#Campaign_positions0 -
I have them all on my shelves, and must go and look at them again - thanks for the prompt! (Not one of his political ones, but I reckon his "Dr Wortle's School" is one of the best short stories ever. Ludicrous sub-plot, but the main story cries out to be a TV mini-series.)algarkirk said:
Of the infinity of joys in Anthony Trollope the accounts of elections and how they worked, and the associated political hypocrisy are among the greatest. Found both in the Barchester (eg Dr Thorne) and the Palliser sequence. About 8,000 pages of distilled and unending delight.AugustusCarp2 said:The Header reminds me of a section in Seth Alexander Thevoz's recent book on London Clubland (Behind Closed Doors, Robinson, 2022 £12.99) where he quotes the aristocratic grandees of Whites and Brooke's in the nineteenth century, who justified secret ballots for their own affairs but regarded them as unconscionable and unneccessary for public events such as Parliamentary elections.
1 -
Indeed. He was almost approaching the subject in the style of an epidemiologist, observing patterns of medical phenomena and then setting out to analyse why they occur.boulay said:
That interview with Maynard was quite the thing. A clearly rational, calm and humane person explains clearly what he has seen and experienced will probably have more effect long term than a hundred interviews with Palestinians who can be brushed off as having a bias.algarkirk said:A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.
His account will hold more currency as he is “one of us”. It might be wrong to see it that way but it’s true.1 -
This is a nice article on public poll books: https://ecppec.ncl.ac.uk/features/poll-books-a-history/AugustusCarp2 said:The Header reminds me of a section in Seth Alexander Thevoz's recent book on London Clubland (Behind Closed Doors, Robinson, 2022 £12.99) where he quotes the aristocratic grandees of Whites and Brooke's in the nineteenth century, who justified secret ballots for their own affairs but regarded them as unconscionable and unneccessary for public events such as Parliamentary elections.
1 -
Like the 50% tariff on copper, making raw materials imports more expensive is the least efficient way possible to use tariffs to encourage domestic industry.Nigelb said:Turns out tariffing Brazil has knock on effects.
Who could have guessed ?
Brazil triples rare earth exports to China as Washington-Beijing rift ripples through trade
https://x.com/DavidLe76335983/status/1946020953655304322
China is by some distance the cheapest refiner/processor of rare earths. This just further entrenches their competitive (and strategic) advantage.
Being the only high tariff economy on the planet, while the rest of the world practices something pretty close to free trade, is a potentially disastrous strategy, even for a continental economy like the US.1 -
It has multiple rounds of voting eliminating the lowest ranked candidate until we have a final two, just like AV.Sunil_Prasannan said:Exhaustive Ballot ISN'T "Quasi-AV". It's the, er, Exhaustive Ballot.
I wonder if TSE is aware of Dave Cameron (PBUH)'s opinion of AV?1 -
My own biases would have raised an eyebrow if, for example, a Palestinian aid worker had been talking about quad-copters strafing tents however the way he coolly and almost neutrally described what he was seeing and dealing with was very hard to find fault with.AugustusCarp2 said:
Indeed. He was almost approaching the subject in the style of an epidemiologist, observing patterns of medical phenomena and then setting out to analyse why they occur.boulay said:
That interview with Maynard was quite the thing. A clearly rational, calm and humane person explains clearly what he has seen and experienced will probably have more effect long term than a hundred interviews with Palestinians who can be brushed off as having a bias.algarkirk said:A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.
His account will hold more currency as he is “one of us”. It might be wrong to see it that way but it’s true.1 -
For somebody as supposedly smart as Trump, he does some really dumb shit, constantly...Nigelb said:Being the only high tariff economy on the planet, while the rest of the world practices something pretty close to free trade, is a potentially disastrous strategy, even for a continental economy like the US.
0 -
Fact is they all do it. Labours expansion of the postal voting system in the Blair government was another example of it, as many commentators felt that favoured Labour voters.DecrepiterJohnL said:
And the requirement for photo-ID, and the forthcoming watering down of it by allowing bank cards.IanB2 said:
Not to mention the changes allowing Brits overseas to vote, and the later removal of the time limit, both done by Tories for political advantageydoethur said:
Tbf, that is not really true:DavidL said:Stables and doors come to mind but it is not a good thing that parties of all stripes are wanting to constantly muck about with the electoral systems to their obvious and patent advantage. Democracy is under enough strain without the players changing their rules to their advantage.
There was a time when a quasi independent body like a Royal Commission would have looked at this. Now, whatever helps us is good. I emphasise that this is not a party political point. The Conservatives' changes were equally blatant.
1832 - franchise adjusted to widen the borough franchise to favour the Whigs
1867 - franchise adjusted to ensure the Conservatives kept control of redistricting
1885 - franchise adjusted to favour the Liberals, but as a Faustian bargain to get it through the Lords they conceded control of redistricting to the Conservatives who immediately adjusted seat boundaries to favour themselves.
1918 - franchise extended to those who 'won the war' so they could vote for 'the man who won the war'
1928 - franchise extended when CCO realised that women were majority Conservative voters.
1969 - franchise extended in the belief younger voters favoured Labour
2014 - franchise in Scotland extended because the SNP thought younger voters would vote for independence and make more of a statement to Westminster.
And almost all of those calculations were correct. 1832 and 1969 would stand out as exceptions.
And Cameron's gerrymandering (and/or attempted gerrymandering) to create more Conservative-leaning seats.
The good thing about all this is that I wouldn’t say any party has had tremendous success in gaining much advantage out of any of these systems. In many cases it actively backfires. The public are a canny lot.
I don’t agree with votes at 16, but it will force parties to engage with that demographic, and if anything I suspect both main parties will probably poll badly with the demographic when it comes to an actual vote.
The mayoral changes I’m ambivalent about (I don’t agree with the Tory changes so at least it is just reinstating the previous status quo) but it feels to me odd that we have so many systems at play and if you are trying to justify electing a mayor under that system I’m not quite sure what your rationale is for not extending that to councillors or MPs, for instance.5 -
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph
0 -
So what are you spending your winnings on?Pulpstar said:Bayeux tapestry bet
Placed 17th Jan 2018 £100 @ 1-2 British museum.
Settled as a loser 3rd May 2022
Contacted Ladbrokes and resettled as a winner 8th July 2025
If you have long term bets, make a note of the reference outside the bookmakers as they only keep the "settled" bets visible for ~ a year.0 -
We were talking about what's in the news.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph2 -
Isn't the change more an anti "fringe minority" measure?TheScreamingEagles said:
For example in 2012ydoethur said:On topic, this is again about favouring Labour as you obliquely note. They are assuming that in a forced choice of the big two in any given area they will be most people’s second choice.
I’m not sure they’re right. How many people will understand the system? Or even use it? (Do we have statistics from when it was used before as to the numbers who used one vote only?)
My instinct, which is of course usually only slightly more accurate than Leon’s, is that the mayoral elections are seen as a free hit against the whole party system and the value is probably in backing Greens and Independents, particularly if Reform have bad press over their local council performances.
Of the 375,377 votes for the non top 2 parties just 185,235 expressed a second preference.
PS I note obliquely is a synonym for subtle.
We know that in low turnout votes a populist fringe candidate can enthuse a large enough minority to come top with a small % of the vote, see PCCs, EU elections etc and that they might be completely unsuitable to hold elected office. They're not all going to be people with the integrity and personal attributes of Count Binface or Hangus, it could be Susan Hall or Lawrence Fox.
1 -
LOL that “Coldplay concert” is the #1 trend this morning, and it’s all because a billionaire is about to get divorced.
Imagine being so bad to your wife that you went to a Coldplay concert.0 -
Even if you don't care about the Afghans, the 100 UK secret service agents on Starmer's lost spreadsheet should be a bit of a worry. You probably know a few of them from drinking at Goodwin's in Bartestree. Well the Taliban, Russians, Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans also know them too now.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph0 -
Given that the Taliban had the full records of the Afghan government and complete control of the country (with no shortage of informers) there was very likely nothing on the email that they didn't know already.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph
The UK taxpayer has been grifted, aided and abetted by self-righteous, simple minded fools such as Ben Wallace.
1 -
Which is an entirely different system to a single ballot as it allows fresh campaigning between votes and people to concentrate their thinking on the remaining candidates in a considered fashion.TheScreamingEagles said:
It has multiple rounds of voting eliminating the lowest ranked candidate until we have a final two, just like AV.Sunil_Prasannan said:Exhaustive Ballot ISN'T "Quasi-AV". It's the, er, Exhaustive Ballot.
I wonder if TSE is aware of Dave Cameron (PBUH)'s opinion of AV?1 -
Imagine being her divorce lawyers, you’d be happier than a pig in muck.Sandpit said:LOL that “Coldplay concert” is the #1 trend this morning, and it’s all because a billionaire is about to get divorced.
Imagine being so bad to your wife that you went to a Coldplay concert.1 -
Why follow the theme of the post when you can introduce an asylum seeker element to the conversation?kinabalu said:
We were talking about what's in the news.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph3 -
Yes. Such questions as I have are the recurring ones that all givers of direct evidence have a tendency to see the crimes of one side only. I have yet to hear of anyone one would expect to be a neutral humanitarian who is or has been in Gaza go into detail or provide evidence about the war crimes and other evil deeds of Hamas.boulay said:
My own biases would have raised an eyebrow if, for example, a Palestinian aid worker had been talking about quad-copters strafing tents however the way he coolly and almost neutrally described what he was seeing and dealing with was very hard to find fault with.AugustusCarp2 said:
Indeed. He was almost approaching the subject in the style of an epidemiologist, observing patterns of medical phenomena and then setting out to analyse why they occur.boulay said:
That interview with Maynard was quite the thing. A clearly rational, calm and humane person explains clearly what he has seen and experienced will probably have more effect long term than a hundred interviews with Palestinians who can be brushed off as having a bias.algarkirk said:A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.
His account will hold more currency as he is “one of us”. It might be wrong to see it that way but it’s true.
For myself I am persuaded that there have been war crimes on both sides.3 -
Yes, it’s incredible. And these dumbos still don’t understand what they did and why, medium term, it is profoundly dangerousanother_richard said:
Given that the Taliban had the full records of the Afghan government and complete control of the country (with no shortage of informers) there was very likely nothing on the email that they didn't know already.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph
The UK taxpayer has been grifted, aided and abetted by self-righteous, simple minded fools such as Ben Wallace.
The one ex-minister who does seem to get it is Mercer
As he puts it, we’ve not even saved the actual (few) fighters that served with us. But we ARE saving thousands of people with almost no connection to the UK - and their families - at vast expense. And some with records of violence and sexual crimes
Northern Rock, day 2:
Queues shuffle in some northern town. Papers take a polite, declining interest. @Roger declares it will be “over by Friday”0 -
…
“Give my client what she wants or we will publicly reveal it’s actually the second time you’ve been to a Coldplay concert.”TheScreamingEagles said:
Imagine being her divorce lawyers, you’d be happier than a pig in muck.Sandpit said:LOL that “Coldplay concert” is the #1 trend this morning, and it’s all because a billionaire is about to get divorced.
Imagine being so bad to your wife that you went to a Coldplay concert.5 -
Loosely on the topic of electoral reform, just received my annual notification to update voter registrations at our address.
The address to visit? https://www.householdresponse.com/northyorkshire
It is legitimate apparently, but well done to whoever decided to register $randomdomain.com for this rather than using something .gov.uk - it has all the hallmarks of a scam and it would be dead simple for someone else to register householdresponses.com or householdresponse.[other TLA] and send out emails. It reminds me of when Nationwide thought olb.nationet.com was a pukka domain for their online banking, rather than something.nationwide.co.uk5 -
"...carbon nanotubes, now starting to match the conductivity of copper, and with greater tensile strength. The cost is plummeting, in the manner of Moore’s Law. Korean scientists have just built a metal-free electric motor with carbon nanotubes that cuts weight by 80pc."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/18/donald-trumps-copper-war-insane-act-self-harm4 -
Er, and lol, I was responding to someone else mentioning this scandal FIRST on this thread. And who was that?Mexicanpete said:
Why follow the theme of the post when you can introduce an asylum seeker element to the conversation?kinabalu said:
We were talking about what's in the news.Leon said:
Really?Mexicanpete said:I thought the story of a super injunction by two separate parties of government after the details of a hundred Secret Service Agents , Special Boat and Special Forces operatives were leaked to the Taliban would run and run. But no Diane Abbott is the story
“Vast majority of Afghans on ‘kill list’ were bogus asylum seekers”
Telegraph
Ah, it was you1 -
We might go and see it in 2026/27 tbh. So it'll cover 2 cans of pop, the inevitable toy and half a sandwich from pret.TheScreamingEagles said:
So what are you spending your winnings on?Pulpstar said:Bayeux tapestry bet
Placed 17th Jan 2018 £100 @ 1-2 British museum.
Settled as a loser 3rd May 2022
Contacted Ladbrokes and resettled as a winner 8th July 2025
If you have long term bets, make a note of the reference outside the bookmakers as they only keep the "settled" bets visible for ~ a year.4 -
Sadly I suspect you are being overly optimistic.Scott_xP said:Trump is going to sue Rupert Murdoch for publishing a letter to Epstein
Which means discovery...
This has all the hallmarks of a Rupert Murdoch pantomime production.
There will be a furore staged on social media about the WSJ publishing this letter
Trump will bluster and threaten, the WSJ will claim great journalistic integrity and the "public interest"
All the news and commentators will focus on the disclosure of this "letter"
After a few days it will be published, it will be salacious but inconclusive and not definitively linked to Trump, there will be witness evidence that he can't type, let alone draw
Meanwhile the laundry hamper containing the flight logs, video, photographs, emails, witness and victim statements will be quietly carried off stage and hidden.
Murdoch has used his media empire for these pantomimes for years, to persecute the weak and vulnerable and to deflect from the truth to protect the powerful, all in his own interests.4 -
It’s probably different in America but in Britain I am pretty sure that infidelity or otherwise has no bearing on the financial settlement between divorcing spouses, so it wouldn’t make a difference.boulay said:…
“Give my client what she wants or we will publicly reveal it’s actually the second time you’ve been to a Coldplay concert.”TheScreamingEagles said:
Imagine being her divorce lawyers, you’d be happier than a pig in muck.Sandpit said:LOL that “Coldplay concert” is the #1 trend this morning, and it’s all because a billionaire is about to get divorced.
Imagine being so bad to your wife that you went to a Coldplay concert.0 -
Or you could do a weekend break in Bayeaux to see the Sutton Hoo treasures.Pulpstar said:
We might go and see it in 2026/27 tbh. So it'll cover 2 cans of pop, the inevitable toy and half a sandwich from pret.TheScreamingEagles said:
So what are you spending your winnings on?Pulpstar said:Bayeux tapestry bet
Placed 17th Jan 2018 £100 @ 1-2 British museum.
Settled as a loser 3rd May 2022
Contacted Ladbrokes and resettled as a winner 8th July 2025
If you have long term bets, make a note of the reference outside the bookmakers as they only keep the "settled" bets visible for ~ a year.1 -
AEP has a new piece on Trump's stupid copper tariff:Nigelb said:
Like the 50% tariff on copper, making raw materials imports more expensive is the least efficient way possible to use tariffs to encourage domestic industry.Nigelb said:Turns out tariffing Brazil has knock on effects.
Who could have guessed ?
Brazil triples rare earth exports to China as Washington-Beijing rift ripples through trade
https://x.com/DavidLe76335983/status/1946020953655304322
China is by some distance the cheapest refiner/processor of rare earths. This just further entrenches their competitive (and strategic) advantage.
Being the only high tariff economy on the planet, while the rest of the world practices something pretty close to free trade, is a potentially disastrous strategy, even for a continental economy like the US.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/18/donald-trumps-copper-war-insane-act-self-harm0 -
I would never, I hope, reply to an official-looking email unless it came from a gov.uk address.Selebian said:Loosely on the topic of electoral reform, just received my annual notification to update voter registrations at our address.
The address to visit? https://www.householdresponse.com/northyorkshire
It is legitimate apparently, but well done to whoever decided to register $randomdomain.com for this rather than using something .gov.uk - it has all the hallmarks of a scam and it would be dead simple for someone else to register householdresponses.com or householdresponse.[other TLA] and send out emails. It reminds me of when Nationwide thought olb.nationet.com was a pukka domain for their online banking, rather than something.nationwide.co.uk
On a different topic, do we know where our friend HYUFD was last night, in view of the 'goings on' in Epping?
On yet another different topic I don't seem to have had a reply to my enquiry about OGH.0 -
Why are people so absurdly snooty about Coldplayboulay said:…
“Give my client what she wants or we will publicly reveal it’s actually the second time you’ve been to a Coldplay concert.”TheScreamingEagles said:
Imagine being her divorce lawyers, you’d be happier than a pig in muck.Sandpit said:LOL that “Coldplay concert” is the #1 trend this morning, and it’s all because a billionaire is about to get divorced.
Imagine being so bad to your wife that you went to a Coldplay concert.
It’s a middle middle class affectation, I think. A slightly insecure signalling of “superior” taste, done by people who are, perhaps subconsciously, nervous of their social status
We had the same with Bee Gees. It was fashionable amongst the middlebrow to diss them. Now we all accept they were musical geniuses. Which they were2 -
But contra the current Diane Abbott racism kerfuffle, Israeli war crimes are DIFFERENT from other war crimes, possibly not even war crimes at all.algarkirk said:A bit of why O why; Merz on R4 Today this morning pointing out that the EU helped the 2016 Referendum leave campaign and perhaps altered the result by its inflexibility.
Why is this obvious stuff realised too late? The EU had two big chances, before the vote and after. Both times they missed the point.
Is it too late now to sort it?
BTW, also on R4 Today this morning, the clearest and simplest account I have heard, from Professor Maynard in Gaza, of evidence pointing to Israeli war crimes. between 7.30 and 8 am.
But anyway, I'm sure the IDF will give itself a right old investigating and all will be well.1 -
JUST TO PROVE THE POINT I am now playing “How Deep Is Your Love” by the Bee Gees on my Sonos system, in my exquisite new bedroom, with its fabulously painted radiator, as the Primrose Hill sun slants onto my Royal Bhutanese silk throw
What a song. What a bedroom. What a radiator2 -
He doesn’t live in Epping any more. If he did, he could have sent his tanks to sort it out.OldKingCole said:
I would never, I hope, reply to an official-looking email unless it came from a gov.uk address.Selebian said:Loosely on the topic of electoral reform, just received my annual notification to update voter registrations at our address.
The address to visit? https://www.householdresponse.com/northyorkshire
It is legitimate apparently, but well done to whoever decided to register $randomdomain.com for this rather than using something .gov.uk - it has all the hallmarks of a scam and it would be dead simple for someone else to register householdresponses.com or householdresponse.[other TLA] and send out emails. It reminds me of when Nationwide thought olb.nationet.com was a pukka domain for their online banking, rather than something.nationwide.co.uk
On a different topic, do we know where our friend HYUFD was last night, in view of the 'goings on' in Epping?
On yet another different topic I don't seem to have had a reply to my enquiry about OGH.1 -
It's extremely easy to fake email sender addresses.* Though less easy than it was in some cases - e.g. Google will flag up emails from gmail addresses that were not sent/authenticated through their servers or an approved server**. I don't know whether they do any checking of other emails such as gov.ukOldKingCole said:
I would never, I hope, reply to an official-looking email unless it came from a gov.uk address.Selebian said:Loosely on the topic of electoral reform, just received my annual notification to update voter registrations at our address.
The address to visit? https://www.householdresponse.com/northyorkshire
It is legitimate apparently, but well done to whoever decided to register $randomdomain.com for this rather than using something .gov.uk - it has all the hallmarks of a scam and it would be dead simple for someone else to register householdresponses.com or householdresponse.[other TLA] and send out emails. It reminds me of when Nationwide thought olb.nationet.com was a pukka domain for their online banking, rather than something.nationwide.co.uk
On a different topic, do we know where our friend HYUFD was last night, in view of the 'goings on' in Epping?
On yet another different topic I don't seem to have had a reply to my enquiry about OGH.
* I once did a revenge April-Fool joke (she'd got me good earlier in the day) that involved an email apparently not from me, but from a mutual friend to my now wife that also made use of the legitwebsite/somelongurl@therealdomainused.com trick and a lightly edited web page from a popular news organisation - that also from the days before browsers flagged that trick up!
** I used to use a personal server to send email from my GMail address, as it was easier for the email web-client software I had on the same server. I had to switch to theirs when this happened.1 -
If Mayoral elections are elected by SV that would be ironically good news for Tory candidates in Mayoral elections in new unitary areas. In Essex next year for example Reform would likely win the Mayoral election under FPTP but the Tories could win it with Labour and LD preferences.
In London it may help Khan though as LD and Green voters will likely be more than Reform votes if likely Conservative candidate Cleverly wins on first preferences0
