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  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,010
    Trump admits they are struggling to do deals on tariff trade with 200 countries and he is personally finding it hard to deal with the ones he has never heard of.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,137

    dixiedean said:


    Kemi Badenoch

    @KemiBadenoch

    Conservatives will deport any asylum seeker who commits a crime. No ifs, no buts.

    https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1948097720851607956


    How?

    And more pertinently why not when they were in government?
    She's always saying 'i was trained as a software engineer' and 'project management' etc etc.

    So why not just say - we failed to do this in government because of X and Y and Z and so logically these are the things I will sort?

    Until she can explain, or indeed Farage can explain, how they will make the Home Office fit for purpose on its current funding then they should shut the f up.

    Don't you make it fit for purpose and on-budget by hand-waving and sloganising? Which sounds fairly straight forward to me.
  • Frank_BoothFrank_Booth Posts: 427

    Foxy said:

    Big polling report on Israelis' views of the possibility of peace, what to do with Gaza, etc.: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/pg_2025.06.03_israel_report.pdf

    Interesting reading. Even now only 50% of Israelis think a 2 state solution impossible.
    If only there'd been a party on the other side interested in a two state solution. Of course that wouldn't have satisfied their enablers in the Soviet Union, Tehran and Doha of course.
    There was. It was Israel who scuppered it. Bear in mind Netenyahu actively supported Hamas against the Palestinian Authority because he didn't want a moderate Palestinian leadership in place. He boasted about ensuring Hamas got money and suppplies to make sure they were the dominant force.
    I think you are completely wrong Richard. Arafat was never serious about doing a deal in spite of all Clinton's efforts. Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas came to power as thanks. That's the background to Netanyahu's rise as the pre eminent Israeli politician. Undoubtedly he bears his share of responsibility for what's happened since.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,010
    GOP Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry and Brian Jack voted for the subpoena on Epstein.


  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,137
    viewcode said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Was Charles upper-class?

    Given that he used the term "cadet branch" when describing his family tree and put a link to his father's obituary in the papers and showed pictures of one of his (ancestor's?) homes, he was possibly the most upper-class poster the site's ever had. But I think not the richest.
    The richest will be one of those civil servants on a billion-a-year pensions, I bet.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,294
    Andy_JS said:

    This is interesting.

    "Former Tory MP expelled by party after ‘serious complaints’

    Tom Hunt, Ipswich MP from 2019-24, tells The Telegraph: ‘I am deeply disappointed by this provisional decision’" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/21/former-tory-mp-tom-hunt-expelled-by-party-after-complaints

    A couple more Tories in Wales expelling themselves.

    https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2025-07-23/two-more-councillors-in-wales-defect-to-reform-uk
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,294
    edited July 23
    Maria Bartiromo asking Gabbard if Obama, Clapper, Comey and others will be indicted? So Gabbard throws Bondi under the bus. If Bondi doesn't indict, and I don't believe she can, she is toast.

    A corrupt news organisation shilling for a corrupt party and an even more corrupt elected President.

    Come on Rupert pull these Fox bastards into line.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,928

    Trump admits they are struggling to do deals on tariff trade with 200 countries and he is personally finding it hard to deal with the ones he has never heard of.

    I imagine closing a deal with the penguins will be a challenge.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    edited July 23
    Automatic subtitles on a YouTube video just rendered "big pharma" as "big farmer".

    For some reason I found that very amusing. 😊
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,010
    kjh said:

    Trump admits they are struggling to do deals on tariff trade with 200 countries and he is personally finding it hard to deal with the ones he has never heard of.

    I imagine closing a deal with the penguins will be a challenge.
    Hard-faced bastards those penguins.

    But maybe you gotta be like that when you have to sit on an egg for weeks with -40 degrees and 150mph wind.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    edited July 23

    Andy_JS said:

    Was Charles upper-class?

    Yes, but his family were only 17th century nouveaux.

    Also:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Jackson_(cricketer)

    Two tests for England in 1949 and 1961.
    Some footage from the match, although not of Jackson himself.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou0g-GNd4rg
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,748
    edited July 23
    Totally OT: Is pb going to have to do some kind of age verification before you can post here?

    (If you run into this with bluesky and they try to make you send personally identifying data to a company that will almost definitely end up leaking it to North Korean hackers, try https://deer.social/ )
  • isamisam Posts: 42,256
    kinabalu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    Stride is 40/1 for next leader. Worth a couple of quid iyo?
    I’m constantly craving for Katie Lam to have a tilt at it
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 55,503

    kjh said:

    Trump admits they are struggling to do deals on tariff trade with 200 countries and he is personally finding it hard to deal with the ones he has never heard of.

    I imagine closing a deal with the penguins will be a challenge.
    Hard-faced bastards those penguins.

    But maybe you gotta be like that when you have to sit on an egg for weeks with -40 degrees and 150mph wind.
    The worst thing is the way penguins treat other penguins, New birds get the shittiest nest sites - furthest from the sea. And when they head on out for food, they get pecked all the way down - and then all the way back.

    Whereupon they find the stones they use as a rudimentary nest site have been stolen by their neighbours.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 5,149
    viewcode said:

    kinabalu said:

    I've managed to avoid the Coldplay story, highbrow unit that I am.

    It's got my female friends enraged.

    They want to cut off the goolies of all cheating men.
    What's the penalty for HR lady?
    Ostracisation from the sisterhood.
    Ouch.

    I've had a razor sharp 65cm blade delivered this morning for Mrs Flatlander.

    I think she wants to do some scything but I'd better behave, just in case.
    A 65cm blade is a dagger? A shortsword? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_swords
    Late reply, sorry.

    Choose your weapon...

    https://www.schroeckenfux.at/scythes/scythes-models/

    A ditch blade for brambles and rough grass is what arrived. Not quite as lethal as a grass blade but still pretty sharp.

    No doubt we are now on a list.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,256
    What is going on with Rupert Lowe trading 17, although now 23-24, on Betfair for relatively decent money in the next PM market? I just don’t see how it is remotely possible.

    Defects to the Tories and becomes leader, then they win enough seats at the next GE for him to be PM? Seems far fetched.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,010

    kjh said:

    Trump admits they are struggling to do deals on tariff trade with 200 countries and he is personally finding it hard to deal with the ones he has never heard of.

    I imagine closing a deal with the penguins will be a challenge.
    Hard-faced bastards those penguins.

    But maybe you gotta be like that when you have to sit on an egg for weeks with -40 degrees and 150mph wind.
    The worst thing is the way penguins treat other penguins, New birds get the shittiest nest sites - furthest from the sea. And when they head on out for food, they get pecked all the way down - and then all the way back.

    Whereupon they find the stones they use as a rudimentary nest site have been stolen by their neighbours.
    I reckon Donald has met his match.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,294
    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    So no one knows why @williamglenn is banned

    Did they come for him at 3AM, like the NKVD from the Lubyanka?

    The mod policy here is interesting, considering Cyclefree made a libellous claim about Beth Upton in the previous thread and got a free pass.
    Is there a PB superinjunction about merely discussing the fact a ban exists? Or why?

    Quite bizarre
    I think it would be useful if a post were stickied in PB on mod policy and what is and isn't allowed to be said.

    I'm hugely in favour of free speech which is why I have no issue with most of the comments posted here even when I disagree with them, though if I were Dr Upton I would probs consider legal action on the allegations made in the previous thread.

    Williamglenn is at best a provocateur and at worst an asshole and russian troll, but we probably deserve to know what he said and why he was banned for saying it.

    We know that rooming bangs aren't something we're allowed to discuss here, but what else gets the ban hammer (when libel doesn't?). A clear list of rules and 'do not cross' lines would be useful (especially for new commentators, who may not be familiar with edicts issued in threads months ago).
    It's a very good idea, as the number of Banning Offences is growing. the other day @TSE made - I think - a joking remark that linking to the Spectator is a bannable offence. I presume it was a gag, but it might not be

    Ditto the new rules on swearing at others, the unmentionable subjects, and so forth...

    The site can only function with rules, and the mods are entitled to impose rules as they see fit. We all accept that. But commenters can only function if they KNOW the rules
    So, I don't know why @williamglenn is no longer able to post, but it is worth remembering that 90% of bans are no such thing: most are 24 or 48 hour time outs after someone has overstepped a line.
    He started channelling the language of the far right with calls for self deportations of British citizens born outside the UK, something a few PBers called him out on.

    He was a few posts away talking about remigration.

    Last time I spoke to your Dad he didn’t want that kind of post to go unpunished.
    So he came out with political opinions you don't like. That's it?
    I have a new concept for you.

    Sit down. Get ready. Brace. Put a mouth guard in. This may hurt.

    Some ideas are unacceptable to decent people. Even when they are just ideas.
    So who are the "decent people". Who defines them? What is decent? I have a strange idea that you will be one of THE DECENT and those who you disagree with, not

    It is lucky there is a ban against foul language because I would now submit you to a finely crafted fusillade of the same. As it is I shall restrict myself to noting that you are morally repulsive
    Since you seem to have a low IQ, I’ll spell it out for you.

    OGH = Our Gracious Host

    This is his place. His definition of decent. @TheScreamingEagles is his emissary, enforcing his edicts.

    If you want to say things that OGH doesn’t like, you do it elsewhere.

    His house, his rules.
    Christ, can this site get any more pompous? The odour of the self righteous centrist dad is pungent, tonight
    You're the one being pompous. Making out that a poster getting 'banned' from PB for a couple of days is some sort of moral atrocity. The free-thinking outlaw renegades being censored by a stultifying middlebrow centrist blob. It's the most utter self-regarding preeny precious tosh.
    Once, just once, say something interesting. Or funny. Or clever. Or witty. Just once?

    Somewhere in that desolate pit of nullity that is your golfing non-soul, there must be ONE comment worth making
    Quite content with that one for now.
    I can imagine. Like a desperately constipated gnu excreting a mackerel's eye*. You tried to be funny, or biting, and you failed, but at least you got something out**
    *As a non-intellectual I don't find that post remotely humourous. Does one have to be really clever to appreciate your doggerel, or are those who find you hilarious simply seeing the Emperor's New Clothes?

    **Just rude.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,421
    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    How does that work? I thought Jenrick's lot were if anything more anti ECHR than Kemi?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    edited July 23
    isam said:

    What is going on with Rupert Lowe trading 17, although now 23-24, on Betfair for relatively decent money in the next PM market? I just don’t see how it is remotely possible.

    Defects to the Tories and becomes leader, then they win enough seats at the next GE for him to be PM? Seems far fetched.

    Something goes wrong for Farage politically. Lowe's the natural heir, despite not being in the party at the moment.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,090
    theProle said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    How does that work? I thought Jenrick's lot were if anything more anti ECHR than Kemi?
    With Jenrick as leader yes, they will join Cleverly backing MPs if they can get rid of Kemi even if they disagree on what would follow her
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,090
    kinabalu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    Stride is 40/1 for next leader. Worth a couple of quid iyo?
    Very much so, he coukd be the Michael Howard to Kemi's IDS
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,090
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    Isn't Obama still a very popular figure in America?

    Saying you are going to arrest him isn't going help with Trump's dire ratings me thinks.

    Its only a problem if there is another election...
    Arresting a politician more popular than you is never a good idea, even if you have the army behind you for now
    Fox News Publishes Op-Ed Warning Tulsi Gabbard’s Obama Accusations Are a Dangerous ‘Effort to Rewrite History’
    https://x.com/nedprice/status/1948120252111630646
    Fox News.

    For a moment there, I saw a glimmer of hope for the US.

    Then I saw this poll.

    Jul 23 poll of 2,243 U.S. adults (+/-2.9%)
    % who think Adam Sandler is very or somewhat funny | not very or not at all funny
    U.S. adults: 71% | 22%
    18-29: 67% | 19%
    30-44: 78% | 15%
    45-64: 72% | 23%
    65+: 64% | 30%

    https://x.com/YouGovAmerica/status/1948111924794667051
    Adam Sandler is funny
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    Kemi Badenoch channelling Javier Milei.

    "Badenoch says she would copy drastic cuts of Argentina’s president
    The Conservative leader says she is terrified by size of UK’s debts and would use chainsaw approach of Javier Milei to curb public spending if she became PM" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/badenoch-says-she-would-copy-drastic-cuts-of-argentinas-president-9gf3jfhcw
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,294

    For once Durham's no one tin soldier has a point:

    Darren Grimes
    @darrengrimes_
    ·
    50m
    By the way, the same people slagging off a 19-year-old council leader are the same ones saying 16-year-olds ought to vote! 🤷🏻‍♂️

    Citation needed.

    I am content both to see 16 year olds voting in elections and 19 year olds running Warwickshire County Council.

    I am sure that a 19 year old Reform Councillor is no better or worse than a 91 year old Reform Councillor.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,421
    edited July 23
    HYUFD said:

    theProle said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    How does that work? I thought Jenrick's lot were if anything more anti ECHR than Kemi?
    With Jenrick as leader yes, they will join Cleverly backing MPs if they can get rid of Kemi even if they disagree on what would follow her
    I appreciate I'm not a Tory, and also that the average Tory MP has intellectual difficulties doing up their own shoelaces, but surely the reason Kemi is still in post is a combination of
    1) booting her out without knowing for certain your guy will win is madness
    2) neither Jenrick nor Cleverly would be doing much better right now, and they know it. Better to let Kemi take the pain then dump her much closer to the next GE and pray for a decent honeymoon.

    I personally can't see either of those conditions changing for another year at least, unless Kemi suddenly gets massively worse. The general consensus of the commentariat seems to be she's improving, at least in the Commons (slightly, and from a very low base), rather than the reverse.

    Next year's locals/Welsh elections might be enough to sink her if the results are really really bad, but I'm not sure it will - this years locals were worse for them than even the bottom of their expectations management and that seems to have been forgotten quickly enough. Next year's results being terrible is probably fairly priced in away. (And, if they are exceptionally lucky, it's just possible they might be junior partners to Reform in a Senedd Coalition, which could probably be spun as a good news story in some way).
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,090
    edited July 23
    Andy_JS said:

    Kemi Badenoch channelling Javier Milei.

    "Badenoch says she would copy drastic cuts of Argentina’s president
    The Conservative leader says she is terrified by size of UK’s debts and would use chainsaw approach of Javier Milei to curb public spending if she became PM" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/badenoch-says-she-would-copy-drastic-cuts-of-argentinas-president-9gf3jfhcw

    Well massive spending cuts would at least be a distinctive Conservative policy, compared to the tax and spend of Labour and the cake for all of Reform and the LDs (except for a bit of Doge in some Reform councils).

    Thatcherite Conservative MPs and members will like it if spending cuts can in the long
    run also enable tax cuts and cuts to business regulation. One Nation Tory MPs will be more wary of the impact on public services
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    Farage popularity, YouGov

    All 37%
    Millennials 39%
    Generation X 38%
    Boomers 49%
    Men 48%
    Women 27%

    https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/other-uk-public-figures/all
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,772
    Monkeys said:

    I notice almost no-one so desperately concerned about the plight of the Palestinians has urged Egypt to open the border.

    Funny that.

    Egypt are aligned with Turkey who are opposed to Iran, my feeling is that Iran and Turkey are the meaningful poles in the ME. I can see Turkey rolling over the top of Northern Iraq and Northern Syria and they already have military actions there, both of those are only countries on paper, not reality.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyksp2Rg_i0
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Kemi Badenoch channelling Javier Milei.

    "Badenoch says she would copy drastic cuts of Argentina’s president
    The Conservative leader says she is terrified by size of UK’s debts and would use chainsaw approach of Javier Milei to curb public spending if she became PM" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/badenoch-says-she-would-copy-drastic-cuts-of-argentinas-president-9gf3jfhcw

    Well massive spending cuts would at least be a distinctive Conservative policy, compared to the tax and spend of Labour and the cake for all of Reform and the LDs (except for a bit of Doge in some Reform councils).

    Thatcherite Conservative MPs and members will like it if spending cuts can in the long
    run also enable tax cuts and cuts to business regulation. One Nation Tory MPs will be more wary of the impact on public services
    Problem is no politicians want to say what needs to happen with spending/pensions because they know how unpopular it will be.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    edited July 24
    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    edited July 24
    LOL,

    When Adolf from Berlin calls into James O’Brien on LBC
    https://x.com/TonyLapidus/status/1948065539479277679
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    Columbia University has agreed to pay $200m (£147m) to the Trump administration over accusations that it had failed to protect its Jewish students. The settlement, which will be paid to the federal government over three years, was announced in a statement by the university on Wednesday.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8zljpvyk0o
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,522
    edited July 24
    edit
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,734
    Andy_JS said:

    Kemi Badenoch channelling Javier Milei.

    "Badenoch says she would copy drastic cuts of Argentina’s president
    The Conservative leader says she is terrified by size of UK’s debts and would use chainsaw approach of Javier Milei to curb public spending if she became PM" (£)

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/badenoch-says-she-would-copy-drastic-cuts-of-argentinas-president-9gf3jfhcw

    Politician tells truth to entitled, complacent, economically illiterate electorate shock.

    I'd give her three more months.
  • KentRisingKentRising Posts: 2,927
    theProle said:

    HYUFD said:

    theProle said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Cleverly refuses to endorse Badenoch’s stance on ECHR
    The Tory leader said last month she was ‘increasingly of the view that we will need to leave’ the treaty" (£)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/23/cleverly-refuses-to-endorse-badenoch-ehcr-stance

    High risk for Kemi, if she does say we must leave the ECHR then ex Cleverly backing MPs will join Jenrick backing MPs to topple her
    How does that work? I thought Jenrick's lot were if anything more anti ECHR than Kemi?
    With Jenrick as leader yes, they will join Cleverly backing MPs if they can get rid of Kemi even if they disagree on what would follow her
    I appreciate I'm not a Tory, and also that the average Tory MP has intellectual difficulties doing up their own shoelaces, but surely the reason Kemi is still in post is a combination of
    1) booting her out without knowing for certain your guy will win is madness
    2) neither Jenrick nor Cleverly would be doing much better right now, and they know it. Better to let Kemi take the pain then dump her much closer to the next GE and pray for a decent honeymoon.

    I personally can't see either of those conditions changing for another year at least, unless Kemi suddenly gets massively worse. The general consensus of the commentariat seems to be she's improving, at least in the Commons (slightly, and from a very low base), rather than the reverse.

    Next year's locals/Welsh elections might be enough to sink her if the results are really really bad, but I'm not sure it will - this years locals were worse for them than even the bottom of their expectations management and that seems to have been forgotten quickly enough. Next year's results being terrible is probably fairly priced in away. (And, if they are exceptionally lucky, it's just possible they might be junior partners to Reform in a Senedd Coalition, which could probably be spun as a good news story in some way).
    Surely the point of everything you outline here is that there will barely be a Tory party left by 2029. It is completely hollowed-out and bleeding members, councillors, money and support to Reform.

    Playing the old electoral cycle - we'll keep our powder dry on a better leader for closer to the election - sounds awfully dated. We are long past living in normal political times.
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,304
    edited July 24

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,477

    Totally OT: Is pb going to have to do some kind of age verification before you can post here?

    Doing it on mental age would solve a lot of the site’s problems.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    pm215 said:

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
    I agree for when you are being cross examined, but it appears they had an interpreter for the whole proceedings.
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,304

    pm215 said:

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
    I agree for when you are being cross examined, but it appears they had an interpreter for the whole proceedings.
    I don't think I'd be playing "I can do without for this part of the trial but not for that part" cheeseparing games either. Why take the risk?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,925
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    God, I feel sick: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo

    This is the holocaust all over again. This time done by Jews.

    Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
    Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears

    Israel Palestine is the most potent geopolitical evidence for Larkin's immortal insight:

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself


    As the Germans did to the Jews, so the Jews are doing to the Palestinians. With the added complication that, given the chance, we all know that many many Gazans - far too many - would do exactly the same to every Jew they could find

    There is no solution other than the one proposed by - ironically - Trump. Move the Gazans away and stuff their mouths with gold
    Well, firstly it's not really a solution. Because giving $5,000 a person doesn't solve the issue that there's nowhere obvious else for them to go. Unless Israel is planning on letting them go to the West Bank.

    Which I'm guessing they aren't that keen on.

    And which brings us to the other problem. What about the West Bank? Every day - as you know from your travels there - the Israelis take control of more of the territory, and each day they make the lives of Palestinians there a little bit worse.

    At some point, the Palestinians will have been resrticted to an area, say, the size of Gaza. And will not doubt act out. As you would do in that scenario. And then are we to sanction another bit of ethnic cleansing?
    The only answer, or recourse, at this point is international isolation and sanctions, similar to the apartheid era's, on Netanyahu's government.
    The Israelis don't give a fuck. They've been through an actual Holocaust. International anger and being-banned-from-rugby is not gonna cut it
    Less than 1% holocaust survivors in Israel
    There's more holocaust victims in Gaza than survivors in Israel.
    That's true. Extraordinary. Look at the rest of the photographic sequence posted by DavidL. Thery're on BBC News. Up there with the Vietnamese nepalm photo of the burning girl. Starvation pictures of children are particularly penetrating.
    If pro-Palestine pressure groups are serious they should stop disrupting London and pay for photos like these to appear in adverts across America (and in Israel).
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,567
    viewcode said:
    Point being that if tech companies want up do business with the federal government, they have to do what Musk tried to with Grok.

    I'm sure it will end well for everyone.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    edited July 24
    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,294

    Columbia University has agreed to pay $200m (£147m) to the Trump administration over accusations that it had failed to protect its Jewish students. The settlement, which will be paid to the federal government over three years, was announced in a statement by the university on Wednesday.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8zljpvyk0o

    This and CBS and so many more is the application of the mobster protection racket for small businesses mentality to corporate America.

    You can take the hood out of New York but you can't take New York out of the hood.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 9,181

    Got hit by a car at work today, so I'm now in hospital with three ribs and an ankle broken

    Heavens! Get better soon and regale us with stories from your beat
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    edited July 24
    Help wanted: Reeves seeks heavyweight economic advisers as budget looms

    Chancellor under pressure to recruit new experts as John Van Reenen and Anna Valero return to academia

    In the run-up to her crunch autumn budget, Rachel Reeves will seek to recruit a heavyweight economic adviser after the role of John Van Reenen is reduced.

    Van Reenen, a well-respected professor from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an expert in productivity, has been chief economic adviser to the chancellor since Labour came to power.

    His role will be cut from three days to one a week as he returns to the LSE at the start of the academic year. Anna Valero, another member of Reeves’s council of economic advisers, will also depart.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/23/rachel-reeves-seeks-economic-heavyweights-advisers-reduce-roles
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,477
    There's an albino reindeer sitting on the beach volleyball court. Not something you see every day.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 74,438
    IanB2 said:

    There's an albino reindeer sitting on the beach volleyball court. Not something you see every day.

    Does the bikini suit it?
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 9,181
    IanB2 said:

    There's an albino reindeer sitting on the beach volleyball court. Not something you see every day.

    Go easy on those Arctic mushrooms and lingoncello
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,306

    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    God, I feel sick: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo

    This is the holocaust all over again. This time done by Jews.

    Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
    Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears

    Israel Palestine is the most potent geopolitical evidence for Larkin's immortal insight:

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself


    As the Germans did to the Jews, so the Jews are doing to the Palestinians. With the added complication that, given the chance, we all know that many many Gazans - far too many - would do exactly the same to every Jew they could find

    There is no solution other than the one proposed by - ironically - Trump. Move the Gazans away and stuff their mouths with gold
    Well, firstly it's not really a solution. Because giving $5,000 a person doesn't solve the issue that there's nowhere obvious else for them to go. Unless Israel is planning on letting them go to the West Bank.

    Which I'm guessing they aren't that keen on.

    And which brings us to the other problem. What about the West Bank? Every day - as you know from your travels there - the Israelis take control of more of the territory, and each day they make the lives of Palestinians there a little bit worse.

    At some point, the Palestinians will have been resrticted to an area, say, the size of Gaza. And will not doubt act out. As you would do in that scenario. And then are we to sanction another bit of ethnic cleansing?
    The only answer, or recourse, at this point is international isolation and sanctions, similar to the apartheid era's, on Netanyahu's government.
    The Israelis don't give a fuck. They've been through an actual Holocaust. International anger and being-banned-from-rugby is not gonna cut it
    Less than 1% holocaust survivors in Israel
    There's more holocaust victims in Gaza than survivors in Israel.
    That's true. Extraordinary. Look at the rest of the photographic sequence posted by DavidL. Thery're on BBC News. Up there with the Vietnamese nepalm photo of the burning girl. Starvation pictures of children are particularly penetrating.
    If pro-Palestine pressure groups are serious they should stop disrupting London and pay for photos like these to appear in adverts across America (and in Israel).
    I'm increasingly worried that I'll look back on this in 50 years and regret not being one of those disrupting central London.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 74,438
    Eabhal said:

    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    God, I feel sick: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo

    This is the holocaust all over again. This time done by Jews.

    Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
    Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears

    Israel Palestine is the most potent geopolitical evidence for Larkin's immortal insight:

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself


    As the Germans did to the Jews, so the Jews are doing to the Palestinians. With the added complication that, given the chance, we all know that many many Gazans - far too many - would do exactly the same to every Jew they could find

    There is no solution other than the one proposed by - ironically - Trump. Move the Gazans away and stuff their mouths with gold
    Well, firstly it's not really a solution. Because giving $5,000 a person doesn't solve the issue that there's nowhere obvious else for them to go. Unless Israel is planning on letting them go to the West Bank.

    Which I'm guessing they aren't that keen on.

    And which brings us to the other problem. What about the West Bank? Every day - as you know from your travels there - the Israelis take control of more of the territory, and each day they make the lives of Palestinians there a little bit worse.

    At some point, the Palestinians will have been resrticted to an area, say, the size of Gaza. And will not doubt act out. As you would do in that scenario. And then are we to sanction another bit of ethnic cleansing?
    The only answer, or recourse, at this point is international isolation and sanctions, similar to the apartheid era's, on Netanyahu's government.
    The Israelis don't give a fuck. They've been through an actual Holocaust. International anger and being-banned-from-rugby is not gonna cut it
    Less than 1% holocaust survivors in Israel
    There's more holocaust victims in Gaza than survivors in Israel.
    That's true. Extraordinary. Look at the rest of the photographic sequence posted by DavidL. Thery're on BBC News. Up there with the Vietnamese nepalm photo of the burning girl. Starvation pictures of children are particularly penetrating.
    If pro-Palestine pressure groups are serious they should stop disrupting London and pay for photos like these to appear in adverts across America (and in Israel).
    I'm increasingly worried that I'll look back on this in 50 years and regret not being one of those disrupting central London.
    Nah, you're making the right choice. Being Mayor wouldn't suit you.

    Oh, sorry, you were talking about protests? I still shouldn't worry too much, they will make no actual difference. As @DecrepiterJohnL rightly notes putting those photos on every billboard in Israel would be much more effective.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,477
    geoffw said:

    IanB2 said:

    There's an albino reindeer sitting on the beach volleyball court. Not something you see every day.

    Go easy on those Arctic mushrooms and lingoncello
    I have a photo, but it's not a very good one as I can't get that close to them with the dog. Instead, here's some actual Lapland scenery - a view of the 'high fells' in the distance, where many of the reindeer go in the summer to escape the mozzies. Once they were mountains, ground down to stumps by multiple ice ages.


  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,784

    pm215 said:

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
    I agree for when you are being cross examined, but it appears they had an interpreter for the whole proceedings.
    Probably didn't go down well with the jury though.

    One jury I sat on observed court microphones being rigged up to assist the defendant who claimed to have hearing difficulties. It also observed him chatting volubly on the phone to friends during a recess.

    It really didn;t help his case.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,641

    Columbia University has agreed to pay $200m (£147m) to the Trump administration over accusations that it had failed to protect its Jewish students. The settlement, which will be paid to the federal government over three years, was announced in a statement by the university on Wednesday.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8zljpvyk0o

    This and CBS and so many more is the application of the mobster protection racket for small businesses mentality to corporate America.

    You can take the hood out of New York but you can't take New York out of the hood.
    When this is over, how will the US restore the rule of law?

    The corruption stinks to high heaven (as does Trump, apparently). The consequences for the place of the US in the global economy has got to include a massive increase in the US risk premium. The slow puncture of US asset prices is going to turn into a rout, the question is when that will happen and how big the gap down will be.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,306
    ydoethur said:

    Eabhal said:

    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    God, I feel sick: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo

    This is the holocaust all over again. This time done by Jews.

    Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
    Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears

    Israel Palestine is the most potent geopolitical evidence for Larkin's immortal insight:

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself


    As the Germans did to the Jews, so the Jews are doing to the Palestinians. With the added complication that, given the chance, we all know that many many Gazans - far too many - would do exactly the same to every Jew they could find

    There is no solution other than the one proposed by - ironically - Trump. Move the Gazans away and stuff their mouths with gold
    Well, firstly it's not really a solution. Because giving $5,000 a person doesn't solve the issue that there's nowhere obvious else for them to go. Unless Israel is planning on letting them go to the West Bank.

    Which I'm guessing they aren't that keen on.

    And which brings us to the other problem. What about the West Bank? Every day - as you know from your travels there - the Israelis take control of more of the territory, and each day they make the lives of Palestinians there a little bit worse.

    At some point, the Palestinians will have been resrticted to an area, say, the size of Gaza. And will not doubt act out. As you would do in that scenario. And then are we to sanction another bit of ethnic cleansing?
    The only answer, or recourse, at this point is international isolation and sanctions, similar to the apartheid era's, on Netanyahu's government.
    The Israelis don't give a fuck. They've been through an actual Holocaust. International anger and being-banned-from-rugby is not gonna cut it
    Less than 1% holocaust survivors in Israel
    There's more holocaust victims in Gaza than survivors in Israel.
    That's true. Extraordinary. Look at the rest of the photographic sequence posted by DavidL. Thery're on BBC News. Up there with the Vietnamese nepalm photo of the burning girl. Starvation pictures of children are particularly penetrating.
    If pro-Palestine pressure groups are serious they should stop disrupting London and pay for photos like these to appear in adverts across America (and in Israel).
    I'm increasingly worried that I'll look back on this in 50 years and regret not being one of those disrupting central London.
    Nah, you're making the right choice. Being Mayor wouldn't suit you.

    Oh, sorry, you were talking about protests? I still shouldn't worry too much, they will make no actual difference. As @DecrepiterJohnL rightly notes putting those photos on every billboard in Israel would be much more effective.
    Oh I know that. It's entirely selfish from me - I don't want the shame to hang over me. To have grandchildren ask me what I did during that period.

    It's easy to mock the protestors but at least they aren't twiddling their thumbs as mass starvation happens in Gaza. I feel a bit protected by my donations but when aid is blockaded, it's not really enough.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 74,438
    edited July 24

    pm215 said:

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
    I agree for when you are being cross examined, but it appears they had an interpreter for the whole proceedings.
    Probably didn't go down well with the jury though.

    One jury I sat on observed court microphones being rigged up to assist the defendant who claimed to have hearing difficulties. It also observed him chatting volubly on the phone to friends during a recess.

    It really didn;t help his case.
    Hmmmm.

    I have hearing difficulties, and when I was in court doing jury duty of my own measures were put in place to support me, if needed. But I do also talk on my phone. I think if I had been on that jury I'd have been perturbed by the idea that hearing loss might be being faked because you are not entirely deaf, especially as when you have moderate hearing difficulties it can be accentuated under stress (like, y'know, being on trial for something).

    Also when I was on jury duty, there was an interpreter for one witness all the way through his evidence even though the witness' English was reasonable. We might have been better off without the interpreter as he kept trying to explain rather than just translate where needed.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 60,794
    Nigelb said:

    viewcode said:
    Point being that if tech companies want up do business with the federal government, they have to do what Musk tried to with Grok.

    I'm sure it will end well for everyone.
    Define "everyone".
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 46,332

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,019
    Thousands of water tests to identify potential harmful pollution in rivers, lakes and estuaries in England have been cancelled in the last three months due to staff shortages, the BBC has learned.

    The Environment Agency confirmed the cancellations after campaigners showed us internal emails and documents with plans for extensive cuts to monitoring programmes.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24xy8zgp4o
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 46,332
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    viewcode said:
    Point being that if tech companies want up do business with the federal government, they have to do what Musk tried to with Grok.

    I'm sure it will end well for everyone.
    Define "everyone".
    Well, a few will be making a lot of money. The entire Trump administration is about a redistribution of wealth from the poorer to the richer. So not 'everyone' technically, but the vast majority.

    And it may end up poorly for the 'richer' as well, in the long run.
  • scampi25scampi25 Posts: 196

    Help wanted: Reeves seeks heavyweight economic advisers as budget looms

    Chancellor under pressure to recruit new experts as John Van Reenen and Anna Valero return to academia

    In the run-up to her crunch autumn budget, Rachel Reeves will seek to recruit a heavyweight economic adviser after the role of John Van Reenen is reduced.

    Van Reenen, a well-respected professor from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an expert in productivity, has been chief economic adviser to the chancellor since Labour came to power.

    His role will be cut from three days to one a week as he returns to the LSE at the start of the academic year. Anna Valero, another member of Reeves’s council of economic advisers, will also depart.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/23/rachel-reeves-seeks-economic-heavyweights-advisers-reduce-roles

    Arguable how effective their advice has been so far,.....
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 74,438

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
    Why did they go with the slimline version of Trump?
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,784
    ydoethur said:

    pm215 said:

    Hmmm.....

    Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg713j20em0o

    He had been on a graduate visa after studying English literature at the University of Bedfordshire, but this expired on 20 June.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6mn3r20p7o

    I think there are some questions to be asked of Luton Poly.

    Not taking a position on this case, but even if I were at a level of language comprehension where I'd be on a university course in the literature of that language, I think I would still be pretty strongly inclined to take an interpreter if I somehow found myself on trial for a serious offence. The stakes are extremely high, the people you are listening to and talking to are not all inclined to help out if you stumble over something or don't catch a meaning in the moment, and you don't have the opportunity to come back the next day and revise something you realised you didn't really express yourself clearly about.
    I agree for when you are being cross examined, but it appears they had an interpreter for the whole proceedings.
    Probably didn't go down well with the jury though.

    One jury I sat on observed court microphones being rigged up to assist the defendant who claimed to have hearing difficulties. It also observed him chatting volubly on the phone to friends during a recess.

    It really didn;t help his case.
    Hmmmm.

    I have hearing difficulties, and when I was in court doing jury duty of my own measures were put in place to support me, if needed. But I do also talk on my phone. I think if I had been on that jury I'd have been perturbed by the idea that hearing loss might be being faked because you are not entirely deaf, especially as when you have moderate hearing difficulties it can be accentuated under stress (like, y'know, being on trial for something).

    Also when I was on jury duty, there was an interpreter for one witness all the way through his evidence even though the witness' English was reasonable. We might have been better off without the interpreter as he kept trying to explain rather than just translate where needed.
    Obviously it wasn't the only factor, nor necessarily decisive, but it didn't help him in what was a marginal case case and he'd have been better off just following as best he could without asking for special equipment to be set up.

    It's a case I've mentioned before on here, mainly because of the jury's rationale. It agreed that it was unclear whether the defendant had committed the crime for which he was charged (handling counterfeit money) but was sure he had committed a crime of some sort and was perfectly aware of what he was doing. (The likely crime was assisting other criminals by making his flat available for illegal purposes, notable the storage of countefeit notes.)
    This disturbed some of our more legalistic posters. Personally I think juries are perfectly entitled to cut through the niceties and make a substantive judgeent like that, even if the strict legal logic is questionable.

    It probably won't surprise you to learn however that the verdict on here is not a unanimous one.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 10,425

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
    Sadly the White House has called someone and the video has been disabled
  • eekeek Posts: 30,783
    scampi25 said:

    Help wanted: Reeves seeks heavyweight economic advisers as budget looms

    Chancellor under pressure to recruit new experts as John Van Reenen and Anna Valero return to academia

    In the run-up to her crunch autumn budget, Rachel Reeves will seek to recruit a heavyweight economic adviser after the role of John Van Reenen is reduced.

    Van Reenen, a well-respected professor from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an expert in productivity, has been chief economic adviser to the chancellor since Labour came to power.

    His role will be cut from three days to one a week as he returns to the LSE at the start of the academic year. Anna Valero, another member of Reeves’s council of economic advisers, will also depart.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/23/rachel-reeves-seeks-economic-heavyweights-advisers-reduce-roles

    Arguable how effective their advice has been so far,.....
    Well one way of increasing productivity is to make Labour costs so expensive you have to look at increasing it to survive and Labour did massively increase those costs in April.

  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 122,933

    NEW THREAD

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 55,884

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
    Sadly the White House has called someone and the video has been disabled
    YouTube auto-stomps on posting of copyrighted material.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 39,370

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
    Sadly the White House has called someone and the video has been disabled
    Happily you now don't need the mind bleach it required
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,230

    Got hit by a car at work today, so I'm now in hospital with three ribs and an ankle broken

    Sue the ar** off them. There is a distinct drop in driving standards since Covid. Seems a number of people have a death wish, and its not for them.

    At least you have all that beer for when you are recuperating.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ogden-tables-actuarial-compensation-tables-for-injury-and-death
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,230


    Kemi Badenoch

    @KemiBadenoch

    Conservatives will deport any asylum seeker who commits a crime. No ifs, no buts.

    https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1948097720851607956


    How?

    It's already in the legislation. She may be suggesting toughening up the rules but as usual, how knows what the hell she is on about. She is a really crap communicator and I may be tempted to top up my bet.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-character-nationality-policy-guidance/good-character-requirement-accessible#criminality
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,545
    edited July 24
    Cicero said:

    Columbia University has agreed to pay $200m (£147m) to the Trump administration over accusations that it had failed to protect its Jewish students. The settlement, which will be paid to the federal government over three years, was announced in a statement by the university on Wednesday.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8zljpvyk0o

    This and CBS and so many more is the application of the mobster protection racket for small businesses mentality to corporate America.

    You can take the hood out of New York but you can't take New York out of the hood.
    When this is over, how will the US restore the rule of law?

    The corruption stinks to high heaven (as does Trump, apparently). The consequences for the place of the US in the global economy has got to include a massive increase in the US risk premium. The slow puncture of US asset prices is going to turn into a rout, the question is when that will happen and how big the gap down will be.
    It needs to do more than "rescue" it. They need to amend their stance to accepting that their system has flaws, and working out how get the institutionalised non-rule of law out of the system."

    Exhibit A: Presidential Pardons.

    A parallel situation applies to International Law imo (if it is still standing).

    The US position has often been "tolerate the rule of law, but don't sign up to treaties completely, then do what we want and inform the others that it is legal. No sign up means no possibility of it being questioned in a way we have to recognise."

    Exhibit B: The recent unilateral "extension" of the US Continental shelf by one million (ish) sq km:

    https://www.gibsondunn.com/mining-of-the-deep-sea-trump-administration-executive-order-international-law-framework-and-implications-for-investors/

    https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/resources/briefing-international-seabed-authority-deep-sea-mining/#:~:text=Nevertheless, in April, Trump signed,-sea mining would unleash.”
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,545

    South Park are back and have gone with absolute curb stomping attack on Trump.

    Naturally enough, NSFW, but brilliant:
    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1948243349745377287
    Sadly the White House has called someone and the video has been disabled
    YouTube auto-stomps on posting of copyrighted material.
    Youtube auto-stomps on legitimate use of copyright material, or by default when a fake complaint is made - too.
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