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These are the lowest leader approval ratings I have ever seen. Surely they can't go on?

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  • nico67nico67 Posts: 5,702
    Taz said:

    nico67 said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Now then, will an apology fix it?
    Kyle shouldn’t apologise and should double down on the comments . Farage trying to incite violence with immigrant hotels so he should STFU . He can dish it out but can’t take it .

    Personally I think the OSA is poor legislation but it’s time opposition politicians used the Reform playbook .
    There is a line and Kyle has unwittingly created all the headlines for Farage who is expanding the argument into free speech

    Responsible discussion over the act is needed, not mud slinging
    Kyle must have had the green light from labour to use that line of attack.
    You’d think but maybe he just went rogue . Regardless he should refuse to apologise and let Reform and Farage keep highlighting that they’ll get rid of the OSA .
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,660

    Just watched the Zarah Sultana interview with Novara media about your party...see couldn't go 30s without crowbarring Gaza into every answer.

    What's your stance on public ownership of utilities....nationalise them all, did I tell.you about utilities provision in Gaza....

    As the country moves to political movements aligned by confessional bloc, it's an astute move. Particularly as some communities will vote according to clerical diktat.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 13,035
    Hodges does his stopped clock thing again
    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/1950107872324464740?s=19
  • No_Offence_AlanNo_Offence_Alan Posts: 5,137

    Selebian said:

    Re VPNs etc, I can't help feeling the whole thing is a genius government wheeze to improve computer literacy and encourage a new generation of script kiddies computer scientists :lol:

    1800% increase in VPN uploads apparently
    For one VPN provider, loving the free publicity.
    1 to 18? or 1,000 to 18,000? They don't tell us, and don't expect today's lazy sloppy journalists to ask.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    I once spent a weekend with Robbie Williams (& entourage). In a 5 star hotel in Zurich

    He got quite frisky one night, but I never saw him smoke
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,366
    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,739
    I think the OSA/VPN thing is going to have relatively significant cut through, something not fully noticed by the mainstream media (again).

    Yes there’s a danger of online echo chambers, but this will have inconvenienced a large number of people. And yes, a lot of this is to do with porn (though not all - see the Reddit censorship of any “NSFW” content, sexual or not) so it’s not quite a conversation topic for your dinner table, but access to adult content is sufficiently widespread that this will have an impact.

    Further I would expect polling on this topic to be rather skewed by the fact that (a) more puritanical policies always seem to, on the face of it, attract support but (b) it’s hard to poll accurately.

    And even if we’re talking about a minority of largely male voters, it will still have an impact.

    Yes it was a stupid Tory idea, but it’s become a stupid Labour idea, and they’ll get the backlash.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178
    nico67 said:

    Taz said:

    nico67 said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Now then, will an apology fix it?
    Kyle shouldn’t apologise and should double down on the comments . Farage trying to incite violence with immigrant hotels so he should STFU . He can dish it out but can’t take it .

    Personally I think the OSA is poor legislation but it’s time opposition politicians used the Reform playbook .
    There is a line and Kyle has unwittingly created all the headlines for Farage who is expanding the argument into free speech

    Responsible discussion over the act is needed, not mud slinging
    Kyle must have had the green light from labour to use that line of attack.
    You’d think but maybe he just went rogue . Regardless he should refuse to apologise and let Reform and Farage keep highlighting that they’ll get rid of the OSA .
    Though even Farage said it would be replaced with another method to keep children safe
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 8:32AM

    Selebian said:

    Re VPNs etc, I can't help feeling the whole thing is a genius government wheeze to improve computer literacy and encourage a new generation of script kiddies computer scientists :lol:

    1800% increase in VPN uploads apparently
    For one VPN provider, loving the free publicity.
    1 to 18? or 1,000 to 18,000? They don't tell us, and don't expect today's lazy sloppy journalists to ask.

    Proton and Nord VPN were the ones mentioned in the articles, they are both sizable operations, Nord in particular has millions of customers.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 19,641

    ydoethur said:

    This is the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

    Peter Kyle: “If Jimmy Savile were alive today he’d be perpetrating his crimes online, and Nigel Farage is saying he’s on their side”

    https://x.com/JAHeale/status/1950086188649365825

    A very stupid point, because actually Jimmy Savile was very careful not to have any sort of computer. He said he didn't want people to think he was accessing child pornography, which is possibly the most remarkably revealing denial I have ever heard.
    If a connection could be found between Savile and Epstein the internet would blow its tiny mind.
    I did read once that Trump and Savile were in the same building in the 1990s.

    Around the time Trump did the League Cup draw live on Saint & Greavsie live from Trump tower.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzO8SKEC-no

    But I suspect it is in the same providence as Osama bin Laden being an Arsenal fan.
    Another oddity - I believe that they rehearse the FA Cup draw before doing it for real. But then I wonder if they do say three draws and choose the one with the best fixtures... I've heard less plausible conspiracy theories.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,660

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
    He is, by some distance, the most significant and important politician in the country so it's inevitable that the issue du jour will be all about him.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,743
    ydoethur said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will get somebody like GCHQ* to monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    * I mean GCHQ aren't busy at the moment....nothing going on in the world that slightly more important.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me. It is actually why the likes of Proton with their VPN / Email etc is so important.

    Growing up in Gloucestershire, I knew several people who worked at GCHQ.

    With one exception, they all had in common that they didn't understand the first thing about actually running computers. They were experts in coding and data analysis, not technology. They used them but if they broke they had to get somebody else to fix it.

    It may have changed - very probably has - but that doesn't inspire confidence that they would be any good at monitoring and understanding VPNs.

    I mean, despite Hyufd's claims, even the Chinese government can't do that (can't even begin to do that) and they spend enormous amounts of time and money on it. Even North Korea found it near impossible which is why they set up a completely sealed intranet.
    A friend grew up in Cheltenham and I remember an anecdote from her childhood.

    When she started her secondary school, one of the teachers, to get to know the class or something, went around asking people what their parents did. Instead of the usual "doctor", "teacher", "bin man" or whatever, all anybody said was "Dunno", "Dunno", "Dunno".

    So whether or not they are good at keeping secrets from the Russians, at least they can keep them from their own kids.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178

    nico67 said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Now then, will an apology fix it?
    Kyle shouldn’t apologise and should double down on the comments . Farage trying to incite violence with immigrant hotels so he should STFU . He can dish it out but can’t take it .

    Personally I think the OSA is poor legislation but it’s time opposition politicians used the Reform playbook .
    There is a line and Kyle has unwittingly created all the headlines for Farage who is expanding the argument into free speech

    Responsible discussion over the act is needed, not mud slinging
    Rightwing libertarians will back Farage on free speech but they will never vote Labour anyway.

    Kyle knows white working class and lower middle class parents in marginal seats and the redwall who are swing voters between Labour and Reform now are much more authoritarian
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,972
    On other matters, I found Trump's interventions at his press conference with Starmer offensive. By what right does he denigrate our Government and its legislation? It's not helped the anti-Government UK media such as GB News feed questions which they know will provoke a response to embarrass Starmer. It's an unfortunate trait which started with Obama's stupid intervention during the Referendum in 2016 (and arguably before that).

    A visiting foreign leader has no place intervening in UK domestic policy. If it's a global question, yes, of course, but not about our Inheritance Tax legislation.

    It's also for the people of London to decide whether Sadiq Khan is a good mayor, not Donald Trump and while I recognise it irks some on here Khan has beaten the Conservatives three times that's democracy and he won even when the Conservatives changed the electoral rules to try to defeat him (that failed because of the appalling candidate the London Conservatives chose).

    However, to provide some balance, it's not Khan's place to carry out ludicrous anti-Trump publicity stunts - it's unnecessary and a waste of public money. When Trump as POTUS visits London, he's here as a guest and should be afforded that courtesy.

    Plenty don't like Starmer and what he's doing but without belabouring the point he won a mandate at an election to govern and we will all have the opportunity to pass judgement on that in 2028 or 2029.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
  • isamisam Posts: 42,264
    edited 8:37AM
    Great turn of phrase from Tom Peck about The Donald’s roast of Sir Keir

    The real action came later, in an extremely unscripted press conference that went on for just over an hour, at least 59 minutes of which Starmer spent staring hard in to the middle distance, clenching his teeth and trying to prevent his eyes widening ever further. It was the kind of look that can get you chucked out of an Ibiza nightclub.


    https://www.thetimes.com/article/5dd8e774-981a-4b17-ae3c-09b3b0c14468?shareToken=b9e1afb7542b84b5aa61349cfdf7b963
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 19,284

    I think the OSA/VPN thing is going to have relatively significant cut through, something not fully noticed by the mainstream media (again).

    Yes there’s a danger of online echo chambers, but this will have inconvenienced a large number of people. And yes, a lot of this is to do with porn (though not all - see the Reddit censorship of any “NSFW” content, sexual or not) so it’s not quite a conversation topic for your dinner table, but access to adult content is sufficiently widespread that this will have an impact.

    Further I would expect polling on this topic to be rather skewed by the fact that (a) more puritanical policies always seem to, on the face of it, attract support but (b) it’s hard to poll accurately.

    And even if we’re talking about a minority of largely male voters, it will still have an impact.

    Yes it was a stupid Tory idea, but it’s become a stupid Labour idea, and they’ll get the backlash.

    Perhaps, though it's also an extreme case of where online world (whether left, right or centrist) almost certainly sees it differently (and worse) than the real world.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    Incidentally, is @williamglenn banned forever?

    @rcs1000 suggested he was merely being sin-binned for wrongthink, and yet he’s still banned
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,972

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    It won't be long before the Home Office is renamed the Department for Public Control...(anyone remember that drama on BBC2 from the 80s?).

    The problem with "personal responsibility" is everyone's notion of it is different and if yours is different from that of the Conservative Party, well, that's where the problems start.
  • novanova Posts: 883
    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    It's an interesting pivot from "blame everything they did for 14 years on the last Labour Government" to "blame everything they did for the last 14 years on the current Labour Government".

    Has the Tory party ever been so full of people who had nothing to do with anything they did in the past?
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,660
    Leon said:

    Incidentally, is @williamglenn banned forever?

    Hopefully.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 19,284
    HYUFD said:

    nico67 said:

    Taz said:

    nico67 said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Now then, will an apology fix it?
    Kyle shouldn’t apologise and should double down on the comments . Farage trying to incite violence with immigrant hotels so he should STFU . He can dish it out but can’t take it .

    Personally I think the OSA is poor legislation but it’s time opposition politicians used the Reform playbook .
    There is a line and Kyle has unwittingly created all the headlines for Farage who is expanding the argument into free speech

    Responsible discussion over the act is needed, not mud slinging
    Kyle must have had the green light from labour to use that line of attack.
    You’d think but maybe he just went rogue . Regardless he should refuse to apologise and let Reform and Farage keep highlighting that they’ll get rid of the OSA .
    Though even Farage said it would be replaced with another method to keep children safe
    Then he needs to say what that method is.

    You want to play in the big boy playground Nigel, you have to play by big boy rules.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,264
    Leon said:

    Incidentally, is @williamglenn banned forever?

    @rcs1000 suggested he was merely being sin-binned for wrongthink, and yet he’s still banned

    That type of ban can be lengthy!

    You got to get your mind right
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 35,366
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    edited 8:45AM
    nova said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    It's an interesting pivot from "blame everything they did for 14 years on the last Labour Government" to "blame everything they did for the last 14 years on the current Labour Government".

    Has the Tory party ever been so full of people who had nothing to do with anything they did in the past?
    I get this obvious point, everyone gets this. But what choice do the Tories have? They governed like clowns for 14 years, and made everything worse - even if they can blame some of it on bad luck

    What can they do? Preface every remark, interview, video with an hour of apologia? Or just crack on with criticising a genuinely dreadful government?

    Sensibly, they have chosen the second option. This will evoke responses like yours but Whatever
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,988
    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    According to a quick internet search, Nigel Farage smokes Silk Cut, Rothmans or Bensons, so it depends who you want to believe.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,379

    ydoethur said:

    This is the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

    Peter Kyle: “If Jimmy Savile were alive today he’d be perpetrating his crimes online, and Nigel Farage is saying he’s on their side”

    https://x.com/JAHeale/status/1950086188649365825

    A very stupid point, because actually Jimmy Savile was very careful not to have any sort of computer. He said he didn't want people to think he was accessing child pornography, which is possibly the most remarkably revealing denial I have ever heard.
    If a connection could be found between Savile and Epstein the internet would blow its tiny mind.
    I did read once that Trump and Savile were in the same building in the 1990s.

    Around the time Trump did the League Cup draw live on Saint & Greavsie live from Trump tower.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzO8SKEC-no

    But I suspect it is in the same providence as Osama bin Laden being an Arsenal fan.
    Another oddity - I believe that they rehearse the FA Cup draw before doing it for real. But then I wonder if they do say three draws and choose the one with the best fixtures... I've heard less plausible conspiracy theories.
    It isn't very plausible in that you'd need quite a few people in on it, including not particularly lavishly remunerated people like the sound guy.

    It'd be a huge and lucrative story to break and, for all their faults, the FA really aren't the sort of organisation to put a horse's head in your bed to encourage silence.

    The fact lots of people would know, plus strong incentive to tell, plus little risk from doing so, equals incredibly unlikely conspiracy.

    Plausible conspiracies require a very limited circle of people who'd know, and either weak incentives to tell or very strong consequences if you do.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,264
    edited 8:49AM
    Leon said:

    nova said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    It's an interesting pivot from "blame everything they did for 14 years on the last Labour Government" to "blame everything they did for the last 14 years on the current Labour Government".

    Has the Tory party ever been so full of people who had nothing to do with anything they did in the past?
    I get this obvious point, everyone gets this. But what choice do the Tories have? They governed like clowns for 14 years, and made everything worse - even if they can blame some of it on bad luck

    What can they do? Preface every remark, interview, video with an hour of apologia? Or just crack on with criticising a genuinely dreadful government?

    Sensibly, they have chosen the second option. This will evoke responses like yours but Whatever
    Yes, better to own the mistakes than ignore them. Katie Lam wasn’t an MP until last year, so she has no baggage from previous Tory policy. It’s good that she feels free to criticise what was an obviously insane approach to immigration

  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 66,270
    stodge said:

    On other matters, I found Trump's interventions at his press conference with Starmer offensive. By what right does he denigrate our Government and its legislation? It's not helped the anti-Government UK media such as GB News feed questions which they know will provoke a response to embarrass Starmer. It's an unfortunate trait which started with Obama's stupid intervention during the Referendum in 2016 (and arguably before that).

    A visiting foreign leader has no place intervening in UK domestic policy. If it's a global question, yes, of course, but not about our Inheritance Tax legislation.

    It's also for the people of London to decide whether Sadiq Khan is a good mayor, not Donald Trump and while I recognise it irks some on here Khan has beaten the Conservatives three times that's democracy and he won even when the Conservatives changed the electoral rules to try to defeat him (that failed because of the appalling candidate the London Conservatives chose).

    However, to provide some balance, it's not Khan's place to carry out ludicrous anti-Trump publicity stunts - it's unnecessary and a waste of public money. When Trump as POTUS visits London, he's here as a guest and should be afforded that courtesy.

    Plenty don't like Starmer and what he's doing but without belabouring the point he won a mandate at an election to govern and we will all have the opportunity to pass judgement on that in 2028 or 2029.

    The same could be said about Macron's intervention about Brexit on his state visit
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 46,432
    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    I once spent a weekend with Robbie Williams (& entourage). In a 5 star hotel in Zurich

    He got quite frisky one night, but I never saw him smoke
    Chainsmoker - but perhaps he was on a 'giving up' interlude then.

    Re Farage, the word is he's started to look after himself as he eyes Downing St. In a reverse of the usual MO for addicted politicians it could be that he's given up the vices but continues to drink and smoke in public so as to protect the brand. Opponents should get to work on busting him as a closet tee-total, non-smoking health nut. It would cost him a lot of votes.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,775
    Eabhal said:

    MattW said:

    I've heard that, sometimes, kids get hurt by cars.

    The sooner we ban these vile child-slaying Machines of Death the better.

    Anyone who disagrees thinks Anakin Skywalker should be in charge of every nursery in the country.

    That's an interesting intervention.

    No - it's about appropriate regulation, and in one (amongst other) particulars making our road network fail-safe not fail-dangerous. And that is both the environment, and the operators of the machines.

    A key measure is to institutionalise alternatives as practical options (ie can walk without being forced out into the traffic).
    I think @Morris_Dancer is suggesting that internet use can only happen after the age of 17 and be subject to a rigorous test. Laptops should undergo government mandated annual inspections and anyone caught watching some interesting videos given points, bans and eventually jail sentences.
    You think incorrectly.
  • TazTaz Posts: 19,944
    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    Good morning

    For various reasons I haven't posted much these last 2 days but have scanned the thread, and with the greatest respect @HYUFD hasn't a clue on the subject of the use of the Internet by children

    Our son is head of IT at a local school, and has three children, so knows more than many on both the use in schools of smartphones and of course in his family

    He has installed controls on the time his children can spend on line, but even with restrictions his children still beg borrow and steal online time

    Of course in school peer pressure and knowledge expands the sites his children [11 and 13] access and our son is in favour of a ban on smartphone use in school with no exceptions

    I watched Peter Kyle this morning allegation about Farage and Saville, and as much as I am not a Farage fan what a ridiculous thing for Kyle to say when the OSA needs genuine and serious discussion

    I did wonder about children using VPN, because unless they are already in use they could not upload the software without payment

    I also am not sure what happens if a child uses their parents e mail address to verify their age. Does the site confirm the verification back to the e mail address or is it just taken as the verification

    We are living in extraordinary times but @HYUFD is in for an eye watering experience in due course if he has his own children and I think Kyle may well have to retract his allegation

    Kyle is considering banning social media use by under 16s not just in schools but anywhere
    Kyle is a plonker.
    So will we all have to prove our age to access social media ?

    How is it practical?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 122,998
    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Nice one, what did you about it when you worked as a Home Office SpAd?

    https://x.com/hasahmed_/status/1950110796731613625?s=61&t=c6bcp0cjChLfQN5Tc8A_6g
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,739

    I think the OSA/VPN thing is going to have relatively significant cut through, something not fully noticed by the mainstream media (again).

    Yes there’s a danger of online echo chambers, but this will have inconvenienced a large number of people. And yes, a lot of this is to do with porn (though not all - see the Reddit censorship of any “NSFW” content, sexual or not) so it’s not quite a conversation topic for your dinner table, but access to adult content is sufficiently widespread that this will have an impact.

    Further I would expect polling on this topic to be rather skewed by the fact that (a) more puritanical policies always seem to, on the face of it, attract support but (b) it’s hard to poll accurately.

    And even if we’re talking about a minority of largely male voters, it will still have an impact.

    Yes it was a stupid Tory idea, but it’s become a stupid Labour idea, and they’ll get the backlash.

    Perhaps, though it's also an extreme case of where online world (whether left, right or centrist) almost certainly sees it differently (and worse) than the real world.
    Absolutely agree. Though I find a lot of the arguments against it online feel plausibly human user, rather than outrage-bot driven, which I can’t say is always the case for everything else.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,988
    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 46,432

    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    According to a quick internet search, Nigel Farage smokes Silk Cut, Rothmans or Bensons, so it depends who you want to believe.
    And all three at once when particularly rattled.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,972

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    There's a group called Liberal Reform who have mounted a strong campaign in opposition to the OSA.

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-have-a-duty-of-care-to-speak-out-against-the-online-safety-act-77994.html

    Again, without wishing to expose my ignorance on this, there's the issues relating to children and their ability to access pornography and the issues surrounding how online forums like ours can function under the new rules which seem expressly to keep out of scope individual blogs and the comments section of media such as the Guardian and Mail. It's those which are neither the one nor the other which are most at risk of being caught up by this legislation.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,379
    On topic, isn't this an awful example of everyday sexism?

    A man who was as nakedly corrupt, savagely authoritarian and pathologically dishonest as Boluarte wouldn't be languishing below 2% in the polls... he'd be on a golfing holiday in Ayrshire.
  • SonofContrarianSonofContrarian Posts: 204

    HYUFD said:

    Good morning

    For various reasons I haven't posted much these last 2 days but have scanned the thread, and with the greatest respect @HYUFD hasn't a clue on the subject of the use of the Internet by children

    Our son is head of IT at a local school, and has three children, so knows more than many on both the use in schools of smartphones and of course in his family

    He has installed controls on the time his children can spend on line, but even with restrictions his children still beg borrow and steal online time

    Of course in school peer pressure and knowledge expands the sites his children [11 and 13] access and our son is in favour of a ban on smartphone use in school with no exceptions

    I watched Peter Kyle this morning allegation about Farage and Saville, and as much as I am not a Farage fan what a ridiculous thing for Kyle to say when the OSA needs genuine and serious discussion

    I did wonder about children using VPN, because unless they are already in use they could not upload the software without payment

    I also am not sure what happens if a child uses their parents e mail address to verify their age. Does the site confirm the verification back to the e mail address or is it just taken as the verification

    We are living in extraordinary times but @HYUFD is in for an eye watering experience in due course if he has his own children and I think Kyle may well have to retract his allegation

    Kyle is considering banning social media use by under 16s not just in schools but anywhere
    Problem is it will just go underground
    I'm glad I don't have children if this is the dystopian surveillance state they would enter..🥴
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,663
    edited 9:00AM

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Nice one, what did you about it when you worked as a Home Office SpAd?

    https://x.com/hasahmed_/status/1950110796731613625?s=61&t=c6bcp0cjChLfQN5Tc8A_6g
    A zinger of a tweet, after all we all know that Home Office Spads wield huge power and can make policy regardless of what the PM or ministers want. I think we should do an audit of all ex Spads and find out why they didn’t stop Covid, stop Russia invading Ukraine and why they allowed the huge inflation problem.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 46,432
    isam said:

    Leon said:

    Incidentally, is @williamglenn banned forever?

    @rcs1000 suggested he was merely being sin-binned for wrongthink, and yet he’s still banned

    That type of ban can be lengthy!

    You got to get your mind right
    Perhaps a return could be conditional on him eating 50 boiled eggs?
  • TazTaz Posts: 19,944
    Today I downloaded a VPN called proton and used it briefly. Didn’t notice any difference apart from the bbc site was the overseas one. I could still use iplayer. I’ve turned it off
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,739
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    I once spent a weekend with Robbie Williams (& entourage). In a 5 star hotel in Zurich

    He got quite frisky one night, but I never saw him smoke
    Chainsmoker - but perhaps he was on a 'giving up' interlude then.

    Re Farage, the word is he's started to look after himself as he eyes Downing St. In a reverse of the usual MO for addicted politicians it could be that he's given up the vices but continues to drink and smoke in public so as to protect the brand. Opponents should get to work on busting him as a closet tee-total, non-smoking health nut. It would cost him a lot of votes.
    In a long line of politicians who cultivated a different image, if so. Harold Wilson didn’t smoke a pipe, for instance.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,972

    stodge said:

    On other matters, I found Trump's interventions at his press conference with Starmer offensive. By what right does he denigrate our Government and its legislation? It's not helped the anti-Government UK media such as GB News feed questions which they know will provoke a response to embarrass Starmer. It's an unfortunate trait which started with Obama's stupid intervention during the Referendum in 2016 (and arguably before that).

    A visiting foreign leader has no place intervening in UK domestic policy. If it's a global question, yes, of course, but not about our Inheritance Tax legislation.

    It's also for the people of London to decide whether Sadiq Khan is a good mayor, not Donald Trump and while I recognise it irks some on here Khan has beaten the Conservatives three times that's democracy and he won even when the Conservatives changed the electoral rules to try to defeat him (that failed because of the appalling candidate the London Conservatives chose).

    However, to provide some balance, it's not Khan's place to carry out ludicrous anti-Trump publicity stunts - it's unnecessary and a waste of public money. When Trump as POTUS visits London, he's here as a guest and should be afforded that courtesy.

    Plenty don't like Starmer and what he's doing but without belabouring the point he won a mandate at an election to govern and we will all have the opportunity to pass judgement on that in 2028 or 2029.

    The same could be said about Macron's intervention about Brexit on his state visit
    Indeed, Merz's recent comments can be viewed in a similar light. Words like "it was a matter for the British people which they decided in a referendum. I didn't agree with the decision but it was the will of the people and I accept and respect that" are fine and I'd have no problem with that. Merz used "deeply deplore" and I think Macron was of a similar view while Trump's view has been very much on the other side.

    I'd tell them all it's none of their business if it were me - however, it would be wrong not to be aware of the impact of our vote on other countries and that's something we don't always consider in our determination to claim our sovereignty.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    edited 9:02AM

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,247
    stodge said:

    On other matters, I found Trump's interventions at his press conference with Starmer offensive. By what right does he denigrate our Government and its legislation? It's not helped the anti-Government UK media such as GB News feed questions which they know will provoke a response to embarrass Starmer. It's an unfortunate trait which started with Obama's stupid intervention during the Referendum in 2016 (and arguably before that).

    A visiting foreign leader has no place intervening in UK domestic policy. If it's a global question, yes, of course, but not about our Inheritance Tax legislation.

    It's also for the people of London to decide whether Sadiq Khan is a good mayor, not Donald Trump and while I recognise it irks some on here Khan has beaten the Conservatives three times that's democracy and he won even when the Conservatives changed the electoral rules to try to defeat him (that failed because of the appalling candidate the London Conservatives chose).

    However, to provide some balance, it's not Khan's place to carry out ludicrous anti-Trump publicity stunts - it's unnecessary and a waste of public money. When Trump as POTUS visits London, he's here as a guest and should be afforded that courtesy.

    Plenty don't like Starmer and what he's doing but without belabouring the point he won a mandate at an election to govern and we will all have the opportunity to pass judgement on that in 2028 or 2029.

    Is Trump here as our guest? Thought he was stiffing the US and UK taxpayer for a golf holiday. Tag a bit of business in the middle to justify not having to pay the cost yourself.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 13,035
    isam said:

    Leon said:

    nova said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    It's an interesting pivot from "blame everything they did for 14 years on the last Labour Government" to "blame everything they did for the last 14 years on the current Labour Government".

    Has the Tory party ever been so full of people who had nothing to do with anything they did in the past?
    I get this obvious point, everyone gets this. But what choice do the Tories have? They governed like clowns for 14 years, and made everything worse - even if they can blame some of it on bad luck

    What can they do? Preface every remark, interview, video with an hour of apologia? Or just crack on with criticising a genuinely dreadful government?

    Sensibly, they have chosen the second option. This will evoke responses like yours but Whatever
    Yes, better to own the mistakes than ignore them. Katie Lam wasn’t an MP until last year, so she has no baggage from previous Tory policy. It’s good that she feels free to criticise what was an obviously insane approach to immigration

    And a lot of voters are reactive to the current malaise not the previous one. Sure, a big chunk will huff and puff about 14 years (or the 13 before that, or the 18 before etc) but they are after the currently dissatisfied looking for 'change' that isnt Farage or Davey or whoever wins the interminable Green leadership.
    I also think they've realised/accepted 25% is a much more realistic target for 2029 than 35%.
    They are planning for a possible return to government in 2034 and need to hold on before they can surge
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,642
    isam said:

    This fellow has been all over the links between Peter Kyle & Ivor Caplin for a long while. There can’t be many Labour MPs in a worse position to start trying to associate other politicians with paedophiles than Kyle. What a blunder


    That looks like quite a deep rabbit hole, and several bees in several bonnets, with Ivor Caplin possibly being walk-on guilt-by-association.

    https://greghadfield.medium.com/exclusive-how-labour-mp-peter-kyle-triggered-a-4am-police-raid-on-a-constituent-for-writing-to-dd012f23122e

    Not going there.

    The Farage vs Kyle spat looks a bit of a push to me. Kyle seems over the line, but his words seem quite careful with the Sky journo trying to create soundbites by particularising a general statement.

    OTOH Kyle seems to be giving the mechanism from the Act more weight than it deserves, and gone for Farage style comms.

    I think Farage's opposition has to do with his social media comms channels being made less effective. I wonder if he will start promoting VPNs on GB News :smile: ; it could be arms' length enough.

    "Lee Anderson's Real World, sponsored by Nord VPN."
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,988
    New 'game-changing' wonder-drug could halt Alzheimer's progression
    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/health/new-game-changing-wonder-drug-could-halt-alzheimers-progression/

    Trontinemab
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 46,432

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    boulay said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Is he a Silk Cut man? I had him down as a Dunhill man, or maybe Peter Stuyvesant.
    No, Silk Cut. Like Robbie Williams.
    I once spent a weekend with Robbie Williams (& entourage). In a 5 star hotel in Zurich

    He got quite frisky one night, but I never saw him smoke
    Chainsmoker - but perhaps he was on a 'giving up' interlude then.

    Re Farage, the word is he's started to look after himself as he eyes Downing St. In a reverse of the usual MO for addicted politicians it could be that he's given up the vices but continues to drink and smoke in public so as to protect the brand. Opponents should get to work on busting him as a closet tee-total, non-smoking health nut. It would cost him a lot of votes.
    In a long line of politicians who cultivated a different image, if so. Harold Wilson didn’t smoke a pipe, for instance.
    But he did have simple tastes and took his holidays in the Scillies.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    I predict the OSA will be one of those policies which will be weakly supported by the clueless majority, but fiercely opposed by the well-informed minority

    Those can swing either way. They can also do a lot of damage to a government by creating angry articulate enemies
  • TazTaz Posts: 19,944
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Pagan2 also got hit by the banhammer.

  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,988
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Jenrick or Lam or Suella or Farage himself on the right. But in the centre, Lam would have a free run assuming Cleverly is looking elsewhere.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Jenrick or Lam or Suella or Farage himself on the right. But in the centre, Lam would have a free run assuming Cleverly is looking elsewhere.
    On this specific issue, migration, benefits, leave to remain - etc - Lam probably sides with 70% of voters. She’d be mad to take any other position

    The voters are crying out for a government which - finally - belatedly - really WILL put an end to mass migration and the boats and all the rest of it

    Another betrayal would, I suspect, be met with civil unrest
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,660
    Klam could be vulnerable to a decapitation strike as her constituency is in the heart of Fukkerstan.

    There is clearly a great deal of tory leader Tinder swiping going on so KB's days must be numbered short indeed.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178
    Yougov finds 80% of voters back the OSA requiring age verification to access pornography websites.

    86% of Conservative voters, 85% of LDs, 79% of Labour and 76% of Reform voters in favour
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2025/07/24/8b234/2
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,321
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Er is weinig bewijs hiervoor. De links-rechts stemmenaandelen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk zijn stabiel, zelfs met een flinke partijwisseling daaronder. Het stemmenaandeel van Reform is afhankelijk van de opkomst van veel voormalige niet-stemmers; de stem van Labour is het tegenovergestelde.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,751
    I can’t even view the Wine subreddit without a VPN for christ’s sake
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,739
    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds 80% of voters back the OSA requiring age verification to access pornography websites.

    86% of Conservative voters, 85% of LDs, 79% of Labour and 76% of Reform voters in favour
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2025/07/24/8b234/2

    As I suspected.

    To me this means Labour will continue to double down, but this will be doing damage behind the scenes.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 13,035
    Dura_Ace said:

    Klam could be vulnerable to a decapitation strike as her constituency is in the heart of Fukkerstan.

    There is clearly a great deal of tory leader Tinder swiping going on so KB's days must be numbered short indeed.

    If she holds on to her vote at 39.2% Reform won't get past her, LabLibGrnFruit will get at least 25% between them
    If she goes down there's not much party left to lead anyway.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,321

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds 80% of voters back the OSA requiring age verification to access pornography websites.

    86% of Conservative voters, 85% of LDs, 79% of Labour and 76% of Reform voters in favour
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2025/07/24/8b234/2

    As I suspected.

    To me this means Labour will continue to double down, but this will be doing damage behind the scenes.
    Sums up modern politics. Complete ineffective or actively harmful; wildly popular with the electorate.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 9:20AM
    He must really love that prison food....

    A video has emerged appearing to show Tommy Robinson at the scene of an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London. Footage posted on social media shows the far-Right activist looking agitated while a man lays on the floor.

    In the clip, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, can be heard saying: “He f-----g come at me. He come at me bruv.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,239
    edited 9:23AM

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    ...
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,642
    edited 9:24AM

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    I've heard that, sometimes, kids get hurt by cars.

    The sooner we ban these vile child-slaying Machines of Death the better.

    Anyone who disagrees thinks Anakin Skywalker should be in charge of every nursery in the country.

    That's an interesting intervention.

    No - it's about appropriate regulation, and in one (amongst other) particulars making our road network fail-safe not fail-dangerous. And that is both the environment, and the operators of the machines.

    A key measure is to institutionalise alternatives as practical options (ie can walk without being forced out into the traffic).
    Bonus as the timer ran out:

    If you want a good example, I can point you to a fairly recent incident where a car followed another car into one of our dangerous "maximum throughput and speed" 40-50mph traffic islands, where a block of small trees had since been grown on the verge (no joined up thinking), so the sight line into the first exit was obscured.

    So when the guy came round the corner, and could not stop, he said "I was forced to go up the pavement; I had no choice", where he killed someone on the pavement.

    Of course the stupid fuck had lots of choices.

    He had the choice to drive at a safe distance behind the car in front, at a safe speed for the distance he could see, to hit the car in front rather than careen up the pavement. IIRC he was still over the stupidly high DD limit from the night before, so he had the choice not to get pissed-out-of-his-brain when he knew he would be driving the next morning.
    Referring to the bit about sightlines, I always wonder why traffic planners are apparently unable to spot the hazards that we are all trained for when we learn to drive. "Can you reduce the speed limit as there are blind bends/blind humps/lots of kids on the pavement and drivers are incapable of driving to the conditions?" "No, there haven't been enough accidents yet, we need to wait for a couple of you to be killed"

    Given how safe the roads are, it is likely that a statistically significant number of accidents on any stretch of road will be only one or two, and might be obscured by accidents that are nothing to do with road conditions eg drunk driving or inattention. Or there might be lots of near misses where both drivers think "shit, that was close" and drive on, and traffic planners never get to hear about them.
    On the "no speed cameras as three people have not been killed yet", I hear that the rule may become less rigid, so that where a Council wishes to invest (ie nowhere in Lincs, Derbys, Notts, Staffs, for example) they will be able to do so.

    On the traffic islands, it's professional and departmental culture left over from the 1970s imo, and things alongside it around how returns are calculated etc. There are weird things ... like increasing the speed limit going *into* a traffic island on an A-road from feeder roads, even when they are well known as hazard points, tangential not orthogonal alignment of the entry roads, not-joined-up thinking (eg that block of tree) and umpteen others. Then there is a lack of continuing development for drivers. I qualified in 1983, and have had no required training since.

    I think your ref is probably to joined up thinking. In the case I cite Google 2008 is fine sightlines. 2011 shows a grid of trees. 20220 shows the trees blocking the sightline.

    We are (very) slowly headed in the right direction, but Govts generally refuse to do what they know is important - even the current one, though they are tinkering in the right direction they are shit-scared of being decisive.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    edited 9:22AM
    Taz said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Pagan2 also got hit by the banhammer.

    @Pagan2 was literally advocating violence - calling for murders and hangings of specific politicians - and refused to stop doing it when politely asked by @TSE

    A fairly lengthy ban seems appropriate (to me, a mere commenter)

    @williamglenn was banned for wrongthink. Simply saying stuff that others disliked, AFAICS

    Much more questionable, to my mind. But this is not my site etc etc
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    Eabhal said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds 80% of voters back the OSA requiring age verification to access pornography websites.

    86% of Conservative voters, 85% of LDs, 79% of Labour and 76% of Reform voters in favour
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2025/07/24/8b234/2

    As I suspected.

    To me this means Labour will continue to double down, but this will be doing damage behind the scenes.
    Sums up modern politics. Complete ineffective or actively harmful; wildly popular with the electorate.
    The Corbyn Cable Company was a very popular policy when it was announced, then people started to realise what it actually meant.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 35,366
    stodge said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    There's a group called Liberal Reform who have mounted a strong campaign in opposition to the OSA.

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-have-a-duty-of-care-to-speak-out-against-the-online-safety-act-77994.html

    Again, without wishing to expose my ignorance on this, there's the issues relating to children and their ability to access pornography and the issues surrounding how online forums like ours can function under the new rules which seem expressly to keep out of scope individual blogs and the comments section of media such as the Guardian and Mail. It's those which are neither the one nor the other which are most at risk of being caught up by this legislation.
    I'm all for free and open discussion and I do understand about the line-drawing difficulties, and of course the opportunities on the internet for wide dissemination of view, both those I agree with and those I don't.
    I've seen a bit of porn and generally speaking what I've seen is rather sad, although I can just about recall my teenage years when things were a lot more restricted than they are now (Health and Efficiency magazine anyone?) and the considerable interest I and my friends had in the matter.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 31,988
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Jenrick or Lam or Suella or Farage himself on the right. But in the centre, Lam would have a free run assuming Cleverly is looking elsewhere.
    On this specific issue, migration, benefits, leave to remain - etc - Lam probably sides with 70% of voters. She’d be mad to take any other position

    The voters are crying out for a government which - finally - belatedly - really WILL put an end to mass migration and the boats and all the rest of it

    Another betrayal would, I suspect, be met with civil unrest
    The voters that count are Conservative MPs. She needs their votes to win the leadership.

    She can pivot later. Running against your immediate predecessor is a core Conservative tactic that worked for Thatcher, Major, Cameron, May, Boris, Liz Truss and Rishi. But first Lam needs to become leader.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 44,480

    He must really love that prison food....

    A video has emerged appearing to show Tommy Robinson at the scene of an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London. Footage posted on social media shows the far-Right activist looking agitated while a man lays on the floor.

    In the clip, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, can be heard saying: “He f-----g come at me. He come at me bruv.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/

    Perhaps got a taste for tossed salad?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178
    edited 9:29AM
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Not all the world is swinging right, Canada and Australia have just swung to the Liberals and Labor.

    Stride is a heavyweight on the economy and Lam is barely even known amongst political anoraks as well as not even being in the Shadow Cabinet.

    Jenrick's time may come if Farage loses the next GE to reunite the right but he is not the best option for the Tories to take on Farage.

    Indeed MoreinCommon found Jenrick only makes a marginal difference relative to Kemi, with the Tories actually falling by 1% from 21% to 20% if Jenrick replaced Kemi as Tory leader but Reform also down from 29% to 27%.

    Ironically if Sunak returned as Tory leader the Tories would be back up to 24%, tied with Reform who are also on 24% in that scenario and ahead of Labour on 22%, suggesting against Farage a leader from the Sunak wing might be best absent a Boris return.

    (If Boris returned as Conservative leader the Conservatives would be back up to 26% with Reform on 23%, Labour on 22% and the LDs on 15%)
    https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/rpahhzfk/more-in-common-post-election-briefing-3.pdf
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 55,955

    Sky saying the Kyle - Farage row is expanding into the wider aspects of free speech, and Wilfred Frost, who did the interview with Kyle, emphasising he asked Kyle twice if he really meant his accusations

    We are all rooting for your guy.
    Who do you think my guy is because it certainly isnt Farage, but Kyle making an unnecessary accusation over a serious subject is ill thought through

    Kyle appears to have all the skills of Alison Rose.

    Who managed to lose, spectacularly, a *truth telling contest* with Nigel Farage.

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,366
    ...
    Dura_Ace said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
    He is, by some distance, the most significant and important politician in the country so it's inevitable that the issue du jour will be all about him.
    He is only as significant as he is because mainstream media are (accidentally ?) shilling for him 24/7.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 9:25AM
    I find it really weird that the press always have to say Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon...they didn't write every article with Boris, real name, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539

    He must really love that prison food....

    A video has emerged appearing to show Tommy Robinson at the scene of an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London. Footage posted on social media shows the far-Right activist looking agitated while a man lays on the floor.

    In the clip, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, can be heard saying: “He f-----g come at me. He come at me bruv.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/

    Others are claiming the guy acted first and tried to attack Saint Tommeh, who merely defended himself

    It’s notable that none of the videos have the earlier part of the stramash. Remember the Manchester Airport vid
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 35,366
    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Er is weinig bewijs hiervoor. De links-rechts stemmenaandelen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk zijn stabiel, zelfs met een flinke partijwisseling daaronder. Het stemmenaandeel van Reform is afhankelijk van de opkomst van veel voormalige niet-stemmers; de stem van Labour is het tegenovergestelde.
    Double Dutch?
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,534
    Finally was able to access porn. After entering my phone number and email.

    God I hope this doesn't get leaked.
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,534
    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
    14 years
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 9:27AM
    Leon said:

    He must really love that prison food....

    A video has emerged appearing to show Tommy Robinson at the scene of an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London. Footage posted on social media shows the far-Right activist looking agitated while a man lays on the floor.

    In the clip, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, can be heard saying: “He f-----g come at me. He come at me bruv.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/

    Others are claiming the guy acted first and tried to attack Saint Tommeh, who merely defended himself

    It’s notable that none of the videos have the earlier part of the stramash. Remember the Manchester Airport vid
    I wouldn't be surprised is somebody had a pop, but if you have a very long history of violence and just served a load of bird, I would be doing everything possible not to spark somebody out as the authorities won't look very kindly on it (and I suspect not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt). To be honest, I presumed he would travel with a bodyguard who could do the smashing for him.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,539
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Not all the world is swinging right, Canada and Australia have just swung to the Liberals and Labor.

    Stride is a heavyweight on the economy and Lam is barely even known amongst political anoraks as well as not even being in the Shadow Cabinet.

    Jenrick's time may come if Farage loses the next GE to reunite the right but he is not the best option for the Tories to take on Farage.

    Indeed MoreinCommon found Jenrick only makes a marginal difference relative to Kemi, with the Tories actually falling by 1% from 21% to 20% but Reform also down from 29% to 27%.

    Ironically if Sunak returned as Tory leader the Tories would be on 24%, tied with Reform who are also on 24% in that scenario and ahead of Labour on 22%, suggesting against Farage a leader from the Sunak wing might be best absent a Boris return.

    (If Boris returned as Conservarvative leader the Conservatives would be back up to 26% with Reform on 23%, Labour on 22% and the LDs on 15%)
    https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/rpahhzfk/more-in-common-post-election-briefing-3.pdf
    Then fuck your stupid party. Let it die
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,976
    HYUFD said:

    Yougov finds 80% of voters back the OSA requiring age verification to access pornography websites.

    86% of Conservative voters, 85% of LDs, 79% of Labour and 76% of Reform voters in favour
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2025/07/24/8b234/2

    The 'gender' tab is interesting. 72% of females 'strongly support' compared with 43% of males. Not surprising that women are more worried about easy access to pornography.
    I believe the PB demographic is overwhelmingly male.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,366
    edited 9:29AM

    I find it really weird that the press always have to say Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon...they didn't write every article with Boris, real name, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel...

    Do they? (Unless it is in relation to some legal jeopardy).

    Most journalists seem to refer to him as Tommy Robinson whilst serious commentators call him Tommy Ten- Names.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,642
    edited 9:29AM
    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-have-a-duty-of-care-to-speak-out-against-the-online-safety-act-77994.html
    "We have a duty of care to speak out against the Online Safety Act"
    That's a campaign group within the party, but fair comment. I don't see anything in the recent party daily press releases, however.

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/category/press-releases
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 55,955

    ...

    Dura_Ace said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
    He is, by some distance, the most significant and important politician in the country so it's inevitable that the issue du jour will be all about him.
    He is only as significant as he is because mainstream media are (accidentally ?) shilling for him 24/7.
    No. He is significant because all three major parties (and quite a few minor ones) have worked very hard on being complete fuckups and being utterly detached from, and disinterested in, the bulk of the electorate.

    The cure for Farage is some competent leadership.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 9:32AM

    I find it really weird that the press always have to say Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon...they didn't write every article with Boris, real name, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel...

    Do they?

    Most journalists seem to refer to him as Tommy Robinson whilst serious commentators call him Tommy Ten- Names.
    Yes...across the board do it, in every article.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0gg8y2r1zo
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce4qd4e4e1vo
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg34x98g2xo

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tommy-robinson-video-unconscious-man-st-pancras-station-btp-london-b1240472.html

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/jul/26/dodgy-guys-who-dress-just-like-him-meet-the-team-behind-far-right-activist-tommy-robinson

    I find it really weird.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,366

    ...

    Dura_Ace said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
    He is, by some distance, the most significant and important politician in the country so it's inevitable that the issue du jour will be all about him.
    He is only as significant as he is because mainstream media are (accidentally ?) shilling for him 24/7.
    No. He is significant because all three major parties (and quite a few minor ones) have worked very hard on being complete fuckups and being utterly detached from, and disinterested in, the bulk of the electorate.

    The cure for Farage is some competent leadership.
    That is a faulty analysis, although some competent leadership would be welcome.

    Like Trump last year, Farage is being promoted by the people who matter in the media.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,647
    MAGA extremist Mike Collins misspells 'Georgia' in new video launching his bid for Georgia Senator against Jon Ossoff
    https://x.com/factpostnews/status/1949933927138775191
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,575
    "Farage demands apology after top minister says he is 'on the side of Jimmy Savile'

    Nigel Farage has demanded an apology from a cabinet minister who claimed his opposition to online safety laws meant he was "on the side" of predators, including the late Jimmy Savile.

    The Reform UK leader said the comments by Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, were "disgusting" and urged him to retract his statement.

    He tweeted: "Peter Kyle's comments on Sky News are disgusting. He should do the right thing and apologise.""

    https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-labour-badenoch-reshuffle-farage-12593360
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,840
    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    That's good.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 35,366
    MattW said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-have-a-duty-of-care-to-speak-out-against-the-online-safety-act-77994.html
    "We have a duty of care to speak out against the Online Safety Act"
    That's a campaign group within the party, but fair comment. I don't see anything in the recent party daily press releases, however.

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/category/press-releases
    I note from the link (obliged, interesting) that the LibDems are keen on air-drops of aid to Gaza. Couldn't we bring a ship across from Cyprus with aid. Might be a problem with unloading, of course.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,144
    edited 9:37AM

    MattW said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Looking at the last thread, HYUFD seems have gone full Stasi...the government will monitor who downloads VPNs. Crickey.

    The fact we even having any discussion that VPNs could be restricted in a Western liberal democracy is bonkers to me.

    I found it really funny, first of all it shows a huge misunderstanding of VPNs and secondly GCHQ doesn't have the ability to monitor every VPN downloaded.

    Imagine the scenes at GCHQ, we can either monitor those Russian spies in Salisbury or we can monitor Ben Smith, aged 14, in Reading downloading a VPN so he can watch some porn.
    Or you can just hire more at GCHQ, it is a relatively secure job for techies
    Head in hands....I thought the Tories were all about personal responsibility and a small state?
    To an extent but not as much as the LDs are meant to be
    Good morning everyone.

    That post has stimulated a thought; what is the LD policy on OSA/VPN? As a liberal I would expect it to be for abolition of the act but having in the past been aware of some pretty unpleasant porn (don't ask/won't tell anyway) I don't want it available to my grandchildren.
    https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-have-a-duty-of-care-to-speak-out-against-the-online-safety-act-77994.html
    "We have a duty of care to speak out against the Online Safety Act"
    That's a campaign group within the party, but fair comment. I don't see anything in the recent party daily press releases, however.

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/category/press-releases
    I note from the link (obliged, interesting) that the LibDems are keen on air-drops of aid to Gaza. Couldn't we bring a ship across from Cyprus with aid. Might be a problem with unloading, of course.
    Remember the US initially tried with that temporary dock they built and it failed.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,840

    He must really love that prison food....

    A video has emerged appearing to show Tommy Robinson at the scene of an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London. Footage posted on social media shows the far-Right activist looking agitated while a man lays on the floor.

    In the clip, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, can be heard saying: “He f-----g come at me. He come at me bruv.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/tommy-robinson-filmed-shouting-near-injured-man/

    He's a thug.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,840
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Jenrick or Lam or Suella or Farage himself on the right. But in the centre, Lam would have a free run assuming Cleverly is looking elsewhere.
    On this specific issue, migration, benefits, leave to remain - etc - Lam probably sides with 70% of voters. She’d be mad to take any other position

    The voters are crying out for a government which - finally - belatedly - really WILL put an end to mass migration and the boats and all the rest of it

    Another betrayal would, I suspect, be met with civil unrest
    Who flagged this?

    @Leon is right.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178
    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Not all the world is swinging right, Canada and Australia have just swung to the Liberals and Labor.

    Stride is a heavyweight on the economy and Lam is barely even known amongst political anoraks as well as not even being in the Shadow Cabine

    Jenrick's time may come if Farage loses the next GE to reunite the right but he is not the best option for the Tories to take on Farage.

    Indeed MoreinCommon found Jenrick only makes a marginal difference relative to Kemi, with the Tories actually falling by 1% from 21% to 20% but Reform also down from 29% to 27%.

    Ironically if Sunak returned as Tory leader the Tories would be on 24%, tied with Reform who are also on 24% in that scenario and ahead of Labour on 22%, suggesting against Farage a leader from the Sunak wing might be best absent a Boris return.

    (If Boris returned as Conservarvative leader the Conservatives would be back up to 26% with Reform on 23%, Labour on 22% and the LDs on 15%)
    https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/rpahhzfk/more-in-common-post-election-briefing-3.pdf
    Then fuck your stupid party. Let it die
    Yes but you voted Labour at the last GE when the Tories still got that 24% and now back Reform, even if the Tories won you back under Jenrick that poll also shows they would not be doing much better than now against Farage and indeed worse than the Sunak led wing would be doing
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,575
    edited 9:42AM
    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    I've heard that, sometimes, kids get hurt by cars.

    The sooner we ban these vile child-slaying Machines of Death the better.

    Anyone who disagrees thinks Anakin Skywalker should be in charge of every nursery in the country.

    That's an interesting intervention.

    No - it's about appropriate regulation, and in one (amongst other) particulars making our road network fail-safe not fail-dangerous. And that is both the environment, and the operators of the machines.

    A key measure is to institutionalise alternatives as practical options (ie can walk without being forced out into the traffic).
    Bonus as the timer ran out:

    If you want a good example, I can point you to a fairly recent incident where a car followed another car into one of our dangerous "maximum throughput and speed" 40-50mph traffic islands, where a block of small trees had since been grown on the verge (no joined up thinking), so the sight line into the first exit was obscured.

    So when the guy came round the corner, and could not stop, he said "I was forced to go up the pavement; I had no choice", where he killed someone on the pavement.

    Of course the stupid fuck had lots of choices.

    He had the choice to drive at a safe distance behind the car in front, at a safe speed for the distance he could see, to hit the car in front rather than careen up the pavement. IIRC he was still over the stupidly high DD limit from the night before, so he had the choice not to get pissed-out-of-his-brain when he knew he would be driving the next morning.
    Referring to the bit about sightlines, I always wonder why traffic planners are apparently unable to spot the hazards that we are all trained for when we learn to drive. "Can you reduce the speed limit as there are blind bends/blind humps/lots of kids on the pavement and drivers are incapable of driving to the conditions?" "No, there haven't been enough accidents yet, we need to wait for a couple of you to be killed"

    Given how safe the roads are, it is likely that a statistically significant number of accidents on any stretch of road will be only one or two, and might be obscured by accidents that are nothing to do with road conditions eg drunk driving or inattention. Or there might be lots of near misses where both drivers think "shit, that was close" and drive on, and traffic planners never get to hear about them.
    On the "no speed cameras as three people have not been killed yet", I hear that the rule may become less rigid, so that where a Council wishes to invest (ie nowhere in Lincs, Derbys, Notts, Staffs, for example) they will be able to do so.

    On the traffic islands, it's professional and departmental culture left over from the 1970s imo, and things alongside it around how returns are calculated etc. There are weird things ... like increasing the speed limit going *into* a traffic island on an A-road from feeder roads, even when they are well known as hazard points, tangential not orthogonal alignment of the entry roads, not-joined-up thinking (eg that block of tree) and umpteen others. Then there is a lack of continuing development for drivers. I qualified in 1983, and have had no required training since.

    I think your ref is probably to joined up thinking. In the case I cite Google 2008 is fine sightlines. 2011 shows a grid of trees. 20220 shows the trees blocking the sightline.

    We are (very) slowly headed in the right direction, but Govts generally refuse to do what they know is important - even the current one, though they are tinkering in the right direction they are shit-scared of being decisive.
    Near where I live there's a junction on a bend which is very tricky to drive on. Guess what? The speed limit increases from 30 to 40mph just before the junction. Total madness.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,647
    The near disaster with the Spanish F-18 was real, apparently.
    Confirmed by the air force.

    Muchos nos habéis estado preguntando, por eso, en este hilo, os contamos qué pasó durante el festival aéreo de Gijón.

    Hilo 🧵

    https://x.com/EjercitoAire/status/1949849926852034974
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 129,178

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    That's good.
    Shades of Liz Truss from that Katie Lam video, although it had clear points
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 55,955

    ...

    Dura_Ace said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    nico67 said:

    Farage demands apology from Peter Kyle over his comments on Sky News and called them disgusting .

    Farage is a touchy fucker. Come on Silk Cuts, do your job.
    Kyle's biggest error is he has turned a serious issue worthy of cross party agreement into something that is now all about Farage.
    He is, by some distance, the most significant and important politician in the country so it's inevitable that the issue du jour will be all about him.
    He is only as significant as he is because mainstream media are (accidentally ?) shilling for him 24/7.
    No. He is significant because all three major parties (and quite a few minor ones) have worked very hard on being complete fuckups and being utterly detached from, and disinterested in, the bulk of the electorate.

    The cure for Farage is some competent leadership.
    That is a faulty analysis, although some competent leadership would be welcome.

    Like Trump last year, Farage is being promoted by the people who matter in the media.
    If Starmer was competent, the Labour Party could be on 40%. They aren’t.

    Likewise Kemi.

    Reform are ahead in the polls because of “none of the above”

    The “Reform is all fake and will go away if we shove our fingers in our ears and scream LA-LA-LA just so” is the faulty analysis.

    The problem that is shown by polls, focus groups etc is the lack of belief in competency, effectiveness and any moral centre. The sight of the PM changing his mind 180 degrees to match the Supreme Court ruling….
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 36,575
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Katie Lam has done a Jenrickvid. It’s pretty good. She’s coming through as another contender, for the upcoming job of Not Being Kemi

    I warn any sensitive PBers that she gets quite @williamglenn at the end

    https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1950109307858509999?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Unlike Jenrick, Katie Lam looks comfortable in front of the camera. Ironically, the camera operator and director seem a bit dicey but we'd need @Roger to give his professional opinion.

    Politically, what is she playing at? Any would-be future leader needs to attract support from all wings of the party and to express a vision of Conservatism for the middle third of the 21st Century. With Cleverly rumoured to be shooting for London Mayor, there is space on that side of the park.
    The world - and the UK - is swinging firmly right. By 2028 this may well be a centrist stance and @williamglenn will be moderating PB

    So this is sensible positioning

    I do think she’d be a good choice for leader. Young, articulate, bold, not lightweight like Kemi. Kind of a Tory Katie Forbes

    Cleverly would do nothing (he should try for mayor) and Stride would be a pathetic disaster sealing their doom

    Jenrick or Lam
    Not all the world is swinging right, Canada and Australia have just swung to the Liberals and Labor.

    Stride is a heavyweight on the economy and Lam is barely even known amongst political anoraks as well as not even being in the Shadow Cabinet.

    Jenrick's time may come if Farage loses the next GE to reunite the right but he is not the best option for the Tories to take on Farage.

    Indeed MoreinCommon found Jenrick only makes a marginal difference relative to Kemi, with the Tories actually falling by 1% from 21% to 20% if Jenrick replaced Kemi as Tory leader but Reform also down from 29% to 27%.

    Ironically if Sunak returned as Tory leader the Tories would be back up to 24%, tied with Reform who are also on 24% in that scenario and ahead of Labour on 22%, suggesting against Farage a leader from the Sunak wing might be best absent a Boris return.

    (If Boris returned as Conservative leader the Conservatives would be back up to 26% with Reform on 23%, Labour on 22% and the LDs on 15%)
    https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/media/rpahhzfk/more-in-common-post-election-briefing-3.pdf
    Canada and Australia have incredibly low population densities (even though most people live in a small number of large cities). That probably explains a lot of it.
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