If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
Yes. I think Japan is the highest as % of GDP. I think governments are reassured that they are all in this together, just as they are reassured that like us the others have no commitment to a single soldier fighting in Ukraine, and no doubt reassured that we were not alone in getting Covid. Reassuring until it isn't.
The UK can be specially reassured that unlike say France and Italy, we don't have an economy where for some purposes they have a common currency (for buying sweets and the cross border drugs trade) and for other purposes they don't (like owing a two trillion Euros) which means that it isn't possible to give a description of what happens when their currency/debt fire alarms go off. Which they will.
At least our sovereign debt crisis is capable of description.
Beyond the three houses wasn't Rayner also guilty of procuring non-socialist, right wing ear buds? I seem to remember quite a furore on here.
Three houses is an odd move if Angela Rayner wants to succeed Starmer. It puts her on par with Jenrick but he plays for the other side.
Rayner owns a home in her constituency in Ashton-under-Lyne, which she bought in 2016 for £375,000. She also makes use of a grace-and-favour ministerial apartment in Admiralty House (which she doesn't own) when she is in Westminster. She's now bought a holiday home on the South Coast.
And the Mail, Sun, Express and even the Times have gone bananas over it. Uppity woman. Doesn't she know her place. Telegraph - "Angela Rayner adds to property empire."
Jenrick has three that belong to him (or it could be 4).
Which of these tabloids have made a front page story of that?
Why’s that so important to you ? Deflection from Saint Ange. It’s not a binary choice.
She’s lamenting a shortage of housing, while in charge of it. She’s a hypocrite.
Meanwhile, in "flag fans flagging" news, here's a Reform run council acknowledging reality;
Although we appreciate people showing their patriotism, we cannot condone painting highways assets in this way," councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for highways, said.
"This presents a safety and insurance issue and will have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer."
He encouraged residents to "show their love for their country" in other ways such as flying a flag "in a safe way".
The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
Yes. I think Japan is the highest as % of GDP. I think governments are reassured that they are all in this together, just as they are reassured that like us the others have no commitment to a single soldier fighting in Ukraine, and no doubt reassured that we were not alone in getting Covid. Reassuring until it isn't.
The UK can be specially reassured that unlike say France and Italy, we don't have an economy where for some purposes they have a common currency (for buying sweets and the cross border drugs trade) and for other purposes they don't (like owing a two trillion Euros) which means that it isn't possible to give a description of what happens when their currency/debt fire alarms go off. Which they will.
At least our sovereign debt crisis is capable of description.
They do benefit from significantly lower interest rates on their debt though.
Our problem, like Turkey’s, is that the markets have an assumption of higher inflation and currency depreciation. Which means higher yields.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Can this possibly be true? Can the PB Scotch brigade confirm? -
“The Child Winter Heating Payment is: - Provided all the way up to 19 (inc. those on *Adult* Disability Payment) - Given per PERSON, not per household - Available for those in the EEA & Switzerland with "sufficient link" to Scotland - Given automatically with no application needed”
A welfare payment for enduring Scottish winters given to every child, even if you no longer live in Scotland. Or indeed the UK. And even if you’re not a child
If this is true, it becomes less mystifying as to why we’re bankrupt
Seems rather dangerous for politicians to be doing this.
It is where the money is. Lapped up by the media, social and traditional.
But Jenrick is absolutely right, and he's found a classic example
The judge has a background as an open-borders, pro-migration socialist. And she is presiding in migration tribunals, and time and again she makes truly bizarre judgements - let the rapists stay! - which can only be explained by open borders views. Which we know she holds
What are the British people meant to do? Sit back and accept this because "British justice blah blah"? No one gives a fuck about any of that any more, and if we want to avoid race riots on our streets we need to sweep away judges like this. The entire judicial class has to be replaced and, in some cases, put on trial
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
A rate cut here, in the UK, in November? Did he see the most recent inflation figures?! If anything the BoE will have to ramp up QT to keep a lid on inflation as they won't be able to raise rates against the grain of what's happening in Europe and the US with rates falling.
The Government would save about £40bn (year one) if the Bank of England stopped paying commercial banks interest on their QE holdings. It's absolutely loony for a central bank to give banks a load of money and than pay them interest on it.
The 'argument' I've heard for not stopping this muppetry is that it 'smacks of default' and would spook investors.
But as long as the spend is not reassigned, I think it would actually be seen as a responsible and serious move. The Government would effectively not be borrowing that £40bn.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Which in turn means capital flight, as the rich leave and investment dries up. Which means a doom loop, as their taxes disappear, which means more taxes, so more taxes flee. Which probably does mean some kind of crisis/bailout/emotional intervention for the UK by concerned family members, at some point
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
HOUSTON: “An investigation is underway after two men wearing ski masks and claiming to be police were shot and killed at a home in southeast Houston Friday night…”
It was only a matter of time. Trump’s masked Gestapo makes everyone unsafe.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
The US still has a veto in Storm Shadiw targeting.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby... https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
A Lambretta was always a cut above.
Yes, today it looked pretty close to 50/50 Vespa/Lambretta, with a fair number of Royal Alloy, which look the part and are a retro design, made in Thailand I believe, with modern brakes and electrics.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
A Lambretta was always a cut above.
Lambretta are just a brand licensing operation now and will put the name on any Chinese tat for money.
Vespa are owned by Piaggio (mass production powerhouse) and are a solid product if you like that type of thing.
My best reading today – Chris Brain and the Nine O Clock Service trial outcomes. There's a lot of it - sorry.
This has been bubbling under a bit this week, and I have not seen it mentioned here, but it was prominent in my Telegraph newsletter this morning. This was the “nightclub service” in Sheffield that was closed amidst an abuse scandal in 1995. Chris Brain has been found guilty of about 15 offences this week. I visited this service a number of times around 1990-1994; nothing was obvious to visitors apart from a certain reluctance to talk too much, and obviously being on the edge culturally since it was engaging with club culture - but they were also under intense tabloid interest.
I’d recommend the longish piece from the Telegraph (link below should go to the full piece not the paywall). It’s sensationalist about the “bikini clad go go dancers” (really) - tabloid prurience, but also has some exhibits that I have not seen before, and is very good on how a charismatic leader can groom followers using their respect, personal dependency, isolation from others, insecurity and can Jiu Jitsu their desire to help (‘if you really cared, you would ...’).
It is less good on how the service developed. and what it was about as an experiment. I think it also misses how such leaders and such experiments need stronger accountability structures, because they can also get lost in their own bubble, and even believe that what they are doing is reasonable / justified.
And here is a view from 1995 published in an evangelical music magazine, CrossRythms, which has a clear viewpoint but shines a usefully different spotlight – including media narratives that were outright fabrications:
The BBC coverage of the trial is also good. I’d recommend reading this about testimony by Revd Dr Mark Stibbe, who raised a red flag early, and was slapped down by the then Bishop of Sheffield. Stibbe is a character of some importance. One problem was that the Bishop was not close enough to it after it moved out to its own venue so there were fewer guard rails, unlike the people who had in in their church building before.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Seems rather dangerous for politicians to be doing this.
They're not, but I think for a significant minority of them their values do colour their judgements - particularly when they know it may set precedents.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham? Or at least anything more than a small and, as one ages, decreasing percentage of one's assets?
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
The US still has a veto in Storm Shadiw targeting.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby... https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
The UK never de-ITARed their Storm Shadow stocks. The French replaced the US components in SCALP so they could sell them to Egypt.
Anyway, Storm Shadow is so 2023. This week's wonder weapon and the difference that makes the difference is the FLAMINGO. Keep up.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
It would be pretty easy to swiftly chop chunks from welfare and pensions - if you could take the political pain and strikes.
Just end the triple lock, accelerate the state pension age moving to 70 years old, end winter fuel payments, change the bus pass from 60 to 70 years old, and time-limit benefits to 12 months in every 5 year cycle - and end PIPs. Plus, end the hugely generous pension schemes in the public sector and basically declare war on the BMA.
The howling would be heard from the moon, and there would be lots of sob stories, but spending would drop by tens of billions very quickly.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
This follows a pretty heavyweight Telegraph report - citing senior economists, ex BoE bigwigs - that the UK is headed for IMF bailout territory
Brace
Those reading PB should already know this. £60bn per year in extra spending, £40bn per year in extra borrowing has a few potential outcomes, one of which is an IMF programme to cut spending in return for staving off an external default, the other is a new QE programme and rampant inflation, impoverishing people who work. Both are existential for Labour.
An IMF programme will be the end of the Labour party and a QE programme which leads to more prolonged inflation will be the slow death.
"The next war isn't going to be a cold war, it'll be a shooting war, a ballistic war ; over a rapidly-dwindling eco-system. The last of the world's energy, drinkable water, breathable air."
You’re too late - the Scottish colony is already being exploited for these resources.
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
A Lambretta was always a cut above.
Lambretta are just a brand licensing operation now and will put the name on any Chinese tat for money.
Vespa are owned by Piaggio (mass production powerhouse) and are a solid product if you like that type of thing.
I had in mind back in the Quadrophenia days. Although Vespa or Lambretta, you'd be mixing your own two stroke and petrol malarkey. So yes the modern Vespa is now the better choice. Although aren't they predominantly Indian rather than Italian made now?
When my kids were 16 I looked at getting a Piaggio Ape 50, but they were incredibly expensive for what they were. So I made them wait until they were 17 and hooked them up with a cat C Fiesta which I bought and repaired for £500.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
But - downsizing apart - one person's asset hoarding is anothe rperson's prudent saving for an independent and increasingly near future.
The US still has a veto in Storm Shadiw targeting.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby... https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
The UK never de-ITARed their Storm Shadow stocks. The French replaced the US components in SCALP so they could sell them to Egypt.
Anyway, Storm Shadow is so 2023. This week's wonder weapon and the difference that makes the difference is the FLAMINGO. Keep up.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
But - downsizing apart - one person's asset hoarding is anothe rperson's prudent saving for an independent and increasingly near future.
Prudent saving is the first £500k per person. Asset hoarding is anything after the million mark.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
Remove the tax free status from Cash ISAs. Keep it for stocks and shares ISAs only. Reduce the FSCS limit from £85,000 to £50,000. Active measures to discourage people from sitting on wads of cash.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
But - downsizing apart - one person's asset hoarding is anothe rperson's prudent saving for an independent and increasingly near future.
Prudent saving is the first £500k per person. Asset hoarding is anything after the million mark.
Hmm, so let's see, £1m at what was it cited as the other day? £40K pa? - is 5 years' care, not allowing for inflation?
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
But - downsizing apart - one person's asset hoarding is anothe rperson's prudent saving for an independent and increasingly near future.
Prudent saving is the first £500k per person. Asset hoarding is anything after the million mark.
Hmm, so let's see, £1m at what was it cited as the other day? £40K pa? - is 5 years' care, not allowing for inflation?
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
Patriotism and Nationalism is fine up to the point that it switches from national pride into oppressing others.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
A Lambretta was always a cut above.
Lambretta are just a brand licensing operation now and will put the name on any Chinese tat for money.
Vespa are owned by Piaggio (mass production powerhouse) and are a solid product if you like that type of thing.
I had in mind back in the Quadrophenia days. Although Vespa or Lambretta, you'd be mixing your own two stroke and petrol malarkey. So yes the modern Vespa is now the better choice. Although aren't they predominantly Indian rather than Italian made now?
When my kids were 16 I looked at getting a Piaggio Ape 50, but they were incredibly expensive for what they were. So I made them wait until they were 17 and hooked them up with a cat C Fiesta which I bought and repaired for £500.
Vespas are still made in Italy. All Piaggio group products are expensive in their particular market segments but they are quality.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
This follows a pretty heavyweight Telegraph report - citing senior economists, ex BoE bigwigs - that the UK is headed for IMF bailout territory
Brace
Those reading PB should already know this. £60bn per year in extra spending, £40bn per year in extra borrowing has a few potential outcomes, one of which is an IMF programme to cut spending in return for staving off an external default, the other is a new QE programme and rampant inflation, impoverishing people who work. Both are existential for Labour.
An IMF programme will be the end of the Labour party and a QE programme which leads to more prolonged inflation will be the slow death.
Such an IMF programme could well unite the left behind Corbyn and even see him become PM on a tax the rich to fund public spending platform.
What rich? Will the last millionaire please remember to turn off the jacuzzi.
It will take a long time for all six million millionaires to leave the UK. The fire sale of their assets alone will encourage half that number to apply for immigration. For
The land value idea is also one I've suggested, and makes 1000x more sense both politically and economically than the IHT business.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/24/how-riverfords-guy-singh-watson-became-the-most-brutally-honest-farmer-in-britain ..“But the easiest way to get money out of the farming sector would be to capture the 100-fold increase in land value when planning permission is granted to build houses on it,” he says. “I don’t see why the farmer should be the beneficiary of that. Maybe they should get double the agricultural value, but the rest of it should go into the public purse.” His rough estimate of how much that would raise when the government’s target of 300,000 new homes are built is £10bn – 25 times more than the inheritance tax changes.
Of all the positions he has taken, opposing Brexit brought him the most hate, he says. “But just about everything that I said has turned out to be true: it has been a complete and utter fuck-up. How can anyone argue anything else? Now we’re having to crawl back to Europe.”
He excoriates the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. “This alliance between the working poor and a load of rich rightwing toffs has been the basis of fascism for a century. How can we still be living it out? I find it really upsetting.”..
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
For those of us who have resisted the siren lure of X what are the other 3?
There'll be a rate cut in November; US rates are coming down; QT will be wound down; NIESR black hole forecast is over the top; consumers feeling happier; labour markets far from meltdown.
And private balance sheets are healthy. There have never been so many comfortably off people in the UK as there are now. The problem is the millions who aren't and are locked out of any chance of changing that. It saddens me that closing this gap is a lesser priority for people than creating a hostile environment for migrants and asylum seekers.
Private balance sheets are too healthy, especially corporate ones. We need companies, and asset rich pensioners, spending again.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should pay for their own care when they get really old and frail. PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
PB right wingers take note. I am now officially a PB right winger!
Wasn't thinking of you so much as the wider discussion, sorry. Was thinking of the more general contradiction there, which your comment about asset-rich pensioners spending - which is entirely logical in itself from that point of view - crystallised in my mind.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham?
Both can be true. If we are talking about asset rich pensioners we are talking about millionaires, perhaps multi millionaires. They can do both.
Hang on, that's a lot of people living in London and the SE, as HYUFD keeps telling us. House prices ...
Sure, can still be spent rather than asset hoarding.
But - downsizing apart - one person's asset hoarding is anothe rperson's prudent saving for an independent and increasingly near future.
Prudent saving is the first £500k per person. Asset hoarding is anything after the million mark.
Hmm, so let's see, £1m at what was it cited as the other day? £40K pa? - is 5 years' care, not allowing for inflation?
£1m generates £40k per year in income.
Only if we have current interest rates. But compare a few years ago ... so capital drawdown has to be assumed.
Edit: and the house has to be kept for the spouse. But my arithmetic is way out. Too much beer at lunch.
Meanwhile, in "flag fans flagging" news, here's a Reform run council acknowledging reality;
Although we appreciate people showing their patriotism, we cannot condone painting highways assets in this way," councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for highways, said.
"This presents a safety and insurance issue and will have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer."
He encouraged residents to "show their love for their country" in other ways such as flying a flag "in a safe way".
The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.
They could clap. The default method of virtue signalling.
“The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.”
What boring, process obsessed crapulence. It’s as highway marking. So it’s already designed, signed off, evaluated, had a report written on its effect on equality etc.
In organisation that could actually do stuff, send a block with a van, some paint, some cones and some hi-viz.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
If I ever need an emergency infusion of likes I'm going to bust out my John Mearsheimer anecdote that I am holding in strategic reserve.
Meanwhile, in "flag fans flagging" news, here's a Reform run council acknowledging reality;
Although we appreciate people showing their patriotism, we cannot condone painting highways assets in this way," councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for highways, said.
"This presents a safety and insurance issue and will have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer."
He encouraged residents to "show their love for their country" in other ways such as flying a flag "in a safe way".
The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.
They could clap. The default method of virtue signalling.
“The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.”
What boring, process obsessed crapulence. It’s as highway marking. So it’s already designed, signed off, evaluated, had a report written on its effect on equality etc.
In organisation that could actually do stuff, send a block with a van, some paint, some cones and some hi-viz.
Looks like Reform is Continuity Vacuousness
Contracted out? Not a council owned road but a national highway?
Meanwhile, in "flag fans flagging" news, here's a Reform run council acknowledging reality;
Although we appreciate people showing their patriotism, we cannot condone painting highways assets in this way," councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for highways, said.
"This presents a safety and insurance issue and will have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer."
He encouraged residents to "show their love for their country" in other ways such as flying a flag "in a safe way".
The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.
They could clap. The default method of virtue signalling.
“The Reform UK-led authority confirmed it was looking to remove the painting on the crossing as soon as possible.”
What boring, process obsessed crapulence. It’s as highway marking. So it’s already designed, signed off, evaluated, had a report written on its effect on equality etc.
In organisation that could actually do stuff, send a block with a van, some paint, some cones and some hi-viz.
Looks like Reform is Continuity Vacuousness
Better still, identify the scrotes doing all this graffiti and get them doing lots of community service.
First two thirds cleaning walls and roads. Then, if they are very good, putting up some proper flagpoles.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
If I ever need an emergency infusion of likes I'm going to bust out my John Mearsheimer anecdote that I am holding in strategic reserve.
I think Mearsheimer's stock has fallen.
Any thoughts on what's happened to Russian air defences? Asking on behalf of an ultra.
The US still has a veto in Storm Shadiw targeting.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby... https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
Elbridge Colby is one to watch. The brains behind Hesgeth; a hawk on China; and believes Europe's war is Europe's problem. Not your usual MAGA.
On Big Ange story, one thing I am uncomfortable with is papers running politicians "pap"ed photos. They did this to Hancock during COVID, on his one day off they would publish photos of him playing with his kids taken by members of the public.
If they are up to no good e.g. Hancock with his mistress, absolutely fair game. If they make a twat of themselves when doing a press conference or public event or put stuff on their social game, same. Having a day out at the seaside with their kids. No.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
Don't know if I count as a regular, but 1.11:1 is pretty good.. I think?
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
The ability of that man to say nothing in a 1k words is truly remarkable. And, in fairness, he makes a living from it.
Sounds like ideal for AI replacement.
Is “AI replacement” -
1) replacement of an LLM by a human, to produce thousands of words of little meaning. 2) replacement of humans by an LLM, to produce thousands of words of little meaning.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Good Morning one and all. Brighter here now, after a rather dull start, weather-wise!
Case as stated, I don't see that Khan has a problem. His term finishes in May 2028. He doesn't stand again, and applauds (or not, depends who wins) his successor and takes a short holiday. SKS must go to the country before July 2029, so announces, sometime in Spring 2029 that a) the election will be in May and b) that he's not going to stand. Khan is welcomed into his seat and off we go.
So who is Labour’s candidate for PM during the election campaign?
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Wasn't that Jeremy Corbyn's plan? Debt for investment. I do not know if Jezza also planned to move Britain to raise income from passing ships.
When British politicians talk about debt for "investment", what they really mean is borrowing for more spending. Singapore, a large amount of their debt, is the equivalent of calling all my investments in stocks / shares as "debt" rather than wealth*. They have taken their citizen money and invested in the equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
The US still has a veto in Storm Shadiw targeting.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby... https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
The UK never de-ITARed their Storm Shadow stocks. The French replaced the US components in SCALP so they could sell them to Egypt.
Anyway, Storm Shadow is so 2023. This week's wonder weapon and the difference that makes the difference is the FLAMINGO. Keep up.
Does not SCALP still require USA satellite guidance? (I don't know.)
I can’t believe the new thread isn’t about Starmer’s latest tweet. I know he’s normally quite dull, but this one is potentially a game changer. Maybe they are finally taking things seriously in Labour HQ?
I don’t know why, but this feels qualitatively different. New. Urgent.
Just read it:
“I want every young person to have the opportunity to realise their full potential.
From training to apprenticeships, my government is building Britain’s future by investing in the next generation.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Oh, this is an interesting new stats game. I am pleased to see I’m over the 1:1 ratio but behind the leaders. Making me, what, the KLF?
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Wasn't that Jeremy Corbyn's plan? Debt for investment. I do not know if Jezza also planned to move Britain to raise income from passing ships.
When British politicians talk about debt for "investment", what they really mean is borrowing for more spending. Singapore, a large amount of their debt, is the equivalent of calling all my investments in stocks / shares as "debt" rather than wealth*. They have taken their citizen money and invested in the equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
I mangled the analogy, but too late to edit.
The point is that a lot of Singapore's debt is capital that is owed to their own citizens which has been invested on their behalf for future needs. Which isn't the situation that most Western countries with 100% debt to GDP are in. Our pensions / healthcare is all the ponzi of tomorrows young having to fund todays old.
Add in they run often a budget surplus and have growth regular of ~4%, they are in excellent finance situation. But comparing a tiny city state to larger countries is comparing chalk and cheese anyway.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Oh, this is an interesting new stats game. I am pleased to see I’m over the 1:1 ratio but behind the leaders. Making me, what, the KLF?
Heh. Fun perspective on flags on lamp posts and roundabouts, and the effect on road safety, from a traffic sign designer.
One point is that lamp posts are generally pretty decrepit so are dodgy; another is if Lampoon McFuckwit messes it up and it blows off onto someone's windscreen; a third is why are they emulating the hated rainbow zebras.
Heh. Fun perspective on flags on lamp posts and roundabouts, and the effect on road safety, from a traffic sign designer.
One is that lamp posts are generally pretty decrepit so are dodgy; another is if Lampoon Mcfuckwit messes it up and it blows off onto someone's windscreen.
Motorway bridges are surely the best option. Visible from some distance, flag can unfurl fully, and can be backlit nicely if facing east or west.
Motorway bridges are generally good for getting a political point across. There was a fuck Tories graffito on one of the A20 bridges for a while, as memorable as “I like eggs”. On the A2 near sittingbourne there’s a big placard on a bridge saying “stop the family farm tax” and it’s been there for months.
Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
Heh. Fun perspective on flags on lamp posts and roundabouts, and the effect on road safety, from a traffic sign designer.
One point is that lamp posts are generally pretty decrepit so are dodgy; another is if Lampoon McFuckwit messes it up and it blows off onto someone's windscreen; a third is why are they emulating the hated rainbow zebras.
Now, remember, that this is going to apply for every other contentious political discourse on Twitter.
I wish these pieces would give examples of these pro Indy, pro Iran, anti Brexit bot accounts just to see if an actual Scottish person recognises any of them, and if they have an impact in Scotpol discourse.
Not that I’m saying ‘Cyabra, which is based in Tel Aviv’ isn’t an entirely reliable source.
Given the quality of current Herald journalism, I would wouldn’t be surprised if all it’s content was written by bots. The same could also be said about the Telegraph.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Wasn't that Jeremy Corbyn's plan? Debt for investment. I do not know if Jezza also planned to move Britain to raise income from passing ships.
When British politicians talk about debt for "investment", what they really mean is borrowing for more spending. Singapore, a large amount of their debt, is the equivalent of calling all my investments in stocks / shares as "debt" rather than wealth*. They have taken their citizen money and invested in the equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
I mangled the analogy, but too late to edit.
The point is that a lot of Singapore's debt is capital that is owed to their own citizens which has been invested on their behalf for future needs. Which isn't the situation that most Western countries with 100% debt to GDP are in. Our pensions / healthcare is all the ponzi of tomorrows young having to fund todays old.
Add in they run often a budget surplus and have growth regular of ~4%, they are in excellent finance situation. But comparing a tiny city state to larger countries is comparing chalk and cheese anyway.
25% of our government debt is owed to the BoE, I think?
Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
“If the UK were subject to an IMF programme, the spending cuts imposed as a condition would be some £100bn-£150bn, perhaps more. That puts a bit of context on the government's recent failed attempts to cut spending by £3bn.”
This follows a pretty heavyweight Telegraph report - citing senior economists, ex BoE bigwigs - that the UK is headed for IMF bailout territory
Brace
Scaremongering nonsense . Especially as economic growth is likely to be better than expected over the next few months which means Reeves will have less money to find .
The effect of the OSA on reducing a chap's access to porn is having all sorts of surprising consequences.
It might increase the birth rate as men look at their blocked porn site then at their wife and after a few weeks of exhausting their mental wank bank they decide she’s better than nothing.
I'm a prepper. Over the last ten years I've hoarded about a thousand photos and videos of my last 20 girlfriends....
Don't forget the stockpile of tissues 😀
A friend of mine wanks directly into the fliptop bin in his kitchen, to save on tissues and help the climate
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Wasn't that Jeremy Corbyn's plan? Debt for investment. I do not know if Jezza also planned to move Britain to raise income from passing ships.
When British politicians talk about debt for "investment", what they really mean is borrowing for more spending. Singapore, a large amount of their debt, is the equivalent of calling all my investments in stocks / shares as "debt" rather than wealth*. They have taken their citizen money and invested in the equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
I mangled the analogy, but too late to edit.
The point is that a lot of Singapore's debt is capital that is owed to their own citizens which has been invested on their behalf for future needs. Which isn't the situation that most Western countries with 100% debt to GDP are in. Our pensions / healthcare is all the ponzi of tomorrows young having to fund todays old.
Add in they run often a budget surplus and have growth regular of ~4%, they are in excellent finance situation. But comparing a tiny city state to larger countries is comparing chalk and cheese anyway.
25% of our government debt is owed to the BoE, I think?
"Angela Rayner adds to property empire with £850k holiday home"
From the Telegraph is pretty stupid
A house in Manchester is not a property empire
Its pure clickbait.
Although… a £375k “main home” vs a £850k “holiday home” suggests where she is prioritising capital allocation and most likely her long term residence.
£850k for something you will use a few weeks a year is a lot…
Well we know how much trouble she has working out where exactly she lives...
More seriously, she works in London and her boyfriend lives in the South. So I imagine it makes perfectly logical sense to have a nice weekend flat in Brighton.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
So the minimum sentence for offences related to community inspired discount shipping will be 12 months.
On a serious note - this removes prison sentencing from magistrates.
It hard to see how this will cut down on organised stock shrinkage.
I will be interested to know how they are going to enforce this no pubs, clubs, gigs, stuff. We going to have people securitising 24/7 GPS records from all the ankle tags?
Good Morning one and all. Brighter here now, after a rather dull start, weather-wise!
Case as stated, I don't see that Khan has a problem. His term finishes in May 2028. He doesn't stand again, and applauds (or not, depends who wins) his successor and takes a short holiday. SKS must go to the country before July 2029, so announces, sometime in Spring 2029 that a) the election will be in May and b) that he's not going to stand. Khan is welcomed into his seat and off we go.
So who is Labour’s candidate for PM during the election campaign?
Our Ange, obviously. Khan or Burnham takes over during Labours second term.
Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
So the minimum sentence for offences related to community inspired discount shipping will be 12 months.
On a serious note - this removes prison sentencing from magistrates.
It hard to see how this will cut down on organised stock shrinkage.
I will be interested to know how they are going to enforce this no pubs, clubs, gigs, stuff. We going to have people securitising 24/7 GPS records from all the ankle tags?
The plan probably goes -
1) catch shop lifter/phone thief 2) tag them 3) when they break the tagging rules to commit their next crime, it’s a slam dunk court case. 4) The entire process of creating a court case and sending notifications can be automated. See spending. 5) so automatic prison sentence of 6 months. No, wait….
If we’re the 6th most indebted developed nation and have the 4th or 5th largest developed nation GDP, that presumably means our indebtedness is consistent with other developed countries.
The most indebted developed country in absolute terms is the USA, by far.
That has an element of thinking of before the fall of the Roman Empire or 2007.....
I am sure the Telegraph article is overblown, but the UK is now paying an insane amount of tax revenue on just servicing the debt (which Rachel from Accounts has set us on a course to be even further expanded) and we haven't had the sort of growth required to keep up with an aging and expanding population for 20+ years. And there is still absolutely no sign the UK has a solution to this problem. And hence why as soon as government increase taxes, we need to increase them again.
And yet we are not out of line with other developed countries.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
Singapore GDP growth is much higher than the UK and has been for past 30 years. Much easier to service your high debt if you are growing significantly ever year, which the UK isn't and hasn't been for 20 years, thus the debt repayments keeps eating up more and more of your tax revenue. Just because other developed countries have the same problem doesn't mean its all fine, which is what I meant by 2007, basically every developed country had copied the US approach to easy credit / packaging of debt.
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
Singapore runs those weird things we virtually never have called budget surplus in many years. Also, their debt is very different, it is actually effectively an giant investment fund not a drag on their finances, due to the unique way they fund healthcare and pensions.
Wasn't that Jeremy Corbyn's plan? Debt for investment. I do not know if Jezza also planned to move Britain to raise income from passing ships.
When British politicians talk about debt for "investment", what they really mean is borrowing for more spending. Singapore, a large amount of their debt, is the equivalent of calling all my investments in stocks / shares as "debt" rather than wealth*. They have taken their citizen money and invested in the equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
I mangled the analogy, but too late to edit.
The point is that a lot of Singapore's debt is capital that is owed to their own citizens which has been invested on their behalf for future needs. Which isn't the situation that most Western countries with 100% debt to GDP are in. Our pensions / healthcare is all the ponzi of tomorrows young having to fund todays old.
Add in they run often a budget surplus and have growth regular of ~4%, they are in excellent finance situation. But comparing a tiny city state to larger countries is comparing chalk and cheese anyway.
25% of our government debt is owed to the BoE, I think?
Its still not the same.
No, I know. But it's another example of the headline number not telling the whole story.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
I think I am Nick Drake. Very little output, widely ignored, but will one day in the future be recognised as a genius (of sorts).
For true immortal genius, you need as many Likes AND Flags as possible, because that means you are the most provocatively entertaining poster on the site, the one that most people enjoy even as others get furiously wound up
I have 44,000 Likes and 550 Flags
Most of you wankers are on about 7 Flags, or 3, or in some cases you are so dull and inane (naming no names but @Nigelb is an example) literally zero.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
That would be unfair. 10k merchants with better than 1:1 merit great respect even though they don't have the mansion in LA like us commercial monsters.
For true immortal genius, you need as many Likes AND Flags as possible, because that means you are the most provocatively entertaining poster on the site, the one that most people enjoy even as others get furiously wound up
I have 44,000 Likes and 550 Flags
Most of you wankers are on about 7 Flags, or 3, or in some cases you are so dull and inane (naming no names but @Nigelb is an example) literally zero.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
That would be unfair. 10k merchants with better than 1:1 merit great respect even though they don't have the mansion in LA like us commercial monsters.
You commercial sell-out. For some of us it’s about the art.
I am. I'm unsure how an National-Front style kidnapping of the flag(s) is supposed to be positive.
As an aside, I did a ?300 mile drive yesterday. Three or four bridges over the A14 near Kettering were festooned with flags; there was one solitary flag on a bridge over the M1 near Leicester. And another on a bridge over the A50 near Doveridge. Uttoxeter was festooned by red, white and blue bunting, but there's a festival on.
All in all, rather underwhelming, and hardly the phenomenon that @Leon was breathlessly going on about.
At the heart of it there are at least two things going on:
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding @GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham! (Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration) https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
The politicisation of the union flag is to be regretted. I really hope it doesn't go the same way as the saltire.
Reticence and understatement are classic British traits. It's ironic that so many of these flag wavers have so little affinity with the culture of the country whose symbols they are attempting to appropriate.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
For true immortal genius, you need as many Likes AND Flags as possible, because that means you are the most provocatively entertaining poster on the site, the one that most people enjoy even as others get furiously wound up
I have 44,000 Likes and 550 Flags
Most of you wankers are on about 7 Flags, or 3, or in some cases you are so dull and inane (naming no names but @Nigelb is an example) literally zero.
I win, you lose, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Come on, this deserves a flag, FFS
I tried and it was rejected. Maybe you have many many more flags that have also been rejected. You might have more flags in reality than Epping high street.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
Has Dura got the best ratio of any regular? 1:1.1 which is even more impressive as very few people agree with what he says, and plenty of us often have no idea what he is saying.....
OLB rules ok on this metric, I think.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
Does a 1 to over 1.2 ratio make someone Radiohead? Asking for a friend.
Ooo no. Let's not get carried away. Insufficient releases. You can be Heaven 17.
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
I’ll take that. Thanks. Maybe us lower level posters with good ratios are the one hit wonders of the site, Chesney Hawkes, Nick Kamen, Tatu.
t.A.T.u. had three top ten singles in the UK.
Must have missed their other two bangers, only remember the lesbian cosplay one for some reason.
Comments
The UK can be specially reassured that unlike say France and Italy, we don't have an economy where for some purposes they have a common currency (for buying sweets and the cross border drugs trade) and for other purposes they don't (like owing a two trillion Euros) which means that it isn't possible to give a description of what happens when their currency/debt fire alarms go off. Which they will.
At least our sovereign debt crisis is capable of description.
And one of hers is over the shop.
Our problem, like Turkey’s, is that the markets have an assumption of higher inflation and currency depreciation. Which means higher yields.
Singapore has a debt to GDP ratio of 174 last year for example.
Debt is only really an issue if you cannot pay the interest on it, and we can.
I am as dry as dust on government debt and would very much like to see a balanced budget, but the idea that we are headed to the IMF is nonsense.
1 - (Choose your word) right people trying to embed themselves in a wider movement that they are animating, very much as happened at the Epping demonstrations, and largely not at the Ashfield ones as the extreme right does not have such a core activist base here. Also see the further right infiltrating Ref UK to use as a platform eg Mark Collett's (of Patriotic Alternative) statements in 2024 to get into the party.
2 - A wider group who see a movement they want to support especially around immigration, who are either happy to be animated by such activists, or are not aware and are following the propaganda.
I was chatting about flags to friends in Huthwaite yesterday as I mentioned last night - they supported Lee Anderson at the last election due to his helping them a little with traveller problems, but are more chary about how this is going.
Hope not Hate have tracked down a few of the figures handing out flags for "Operation Raise the Colours":
Paul Golding
@GoldingBF OPERATION RAISE THE COLOURS
Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for ‘Operation Raise The Colours’. Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham!
(Photo is of a Britain First Demonstration)
https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1958653930319020316
https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/22/operation-raise-the-colours-organised-by-well-known-far-right-extremists/
I'm not sure where this is going; one to watch.
The judge has a background as an open-borders, pro-migration socialist. And she is presiding in migration tribunals, and time and again she makes truly bizarre judgements - let the rapists stay! - which can only be explained by open borders views. Which we know she holds
What are the British people meant to do? Sit back and accept this because "British justice blah blah"? No one gives a fuck about any of that any more, and if we want to avoid race riots on our streets we need to sweep away judges like this. The entire judicial class has to be replaced and, in some cases, put on trial
If the UK was growing at 4-5% a year, there would be no issues at all with debt repayments, funding public services, etc. But we aren't.
I don't think we are going to the IMF either, but slowing drowning under the weight of the fact debt repayments eat up so much, thus everything gets shitter and taxes have to keep increasing. The talk is that Reeves will go down the PFI route again, which will be even more debt just off the books.
The 'argument' I've heard for not stopping this muppetry is that it 'smacks of default' and would spook investors.
But as long as the spend is not reassigned, I think it would actually be seen as a responsible and serious move. The Government would effectively not be borrowing that £40bn.
I've been observing the IoW scooter rally ride out again this year. Flags and RAF roundels have long been part of scooterist iconography, though also Italian scooters, fashion, Northern Soul, Ska and Two-Tone music. It's all in good fun and a celebration of a curiously British magpie-like subculture. I am almost tempted to acquire a Vespa myself...
@thetnholler.bsky.social
HOUSTON: “An investigation is underway after two men wearing ski masks and claiming to be police were shot and killed at a home in southeast Houston Friday night…”
It was only a matter of time. Trump’s masked Gestapo makes everyone unsafe.
https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lx5hhj2t3s2r
Why Singapore's Doesn't Care About Its Giant Debt
https://youtu.be/9WB36_LN-q4?si=tIYVfeMr91Q6qjC6
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby...
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1959549751960994279
I don't like Rayner particularly but the Telegraph's unhinged headline, click bait is even worse.
PB rightwingers: pensioners should blow their savings asap on fur-lined jacuzzis.
(In fairness many of us take the first theme quite seriously. And the point about saving is taken. But there's a fair bit of the latter going on at the moment, not just you. Remember that pensioners aren't supposed to *have* a lot of their savings in equities.)
Vespa are owned by Piaggio (mass production powerhouse) and are a solid product if you like that type of thing.
This has been bubbling under a bit this week, and I have not seen it mentioned here, but it was prominent in my Telegraph newsletter this morning. This was the “nightclub service” in Sheffield that was closed amidst an abuse scandal in 1995. Chris Brain has been found guilty of about 15 offences this week. I visited this service a number of times around 1990-1994; nothing was obvious to visitors apart from a certain reluctance to talk too much, and obviously being on the edge culturally since it was engaging with club culture - but they were also under intense tabloid interest.
I’d recommend the longish piece from the Telegraph (link below should go to the full piece not the paywall). It’s sensationalist about the “bikini clad go go dancers” (really) - tabloid prurience, but also has some exhibits that I have not seen before, and is very good on how a charismatic leader can groom followers using their respect, personal dependency, isolation from others, insecurity and can Jiu Jitsu their desire to help (‘if you really cared, you would ...’).
It is less good on how the service developed. and what it was about as an experiment. I think it also misses how such leaders and such experiments need stronger accountability structures, because they can also get lost in their own bubble, and even believe that what they are doing is reasonable / justified.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/7c7079c71f941030
For a context, the Wiki articles is good and short on the history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_O'Clock_Service
And here is a view from 1995 published in an evangelical music magazine, CrossRythms, which has a clear viewpoint but shines a usefully different spotlight – including media narratives that were outright fabrications:
https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/The_Media_Scandal_Behind_Sheffields_Nine_OClock_Service_/40388/p1/
The BBC coverage of the trial is also good. I’d recommend reading this about testimony by Revd Dr Mark Stibbe, who raised a red flag early, and was slapped down by the then Bishop of Sheffield. Stibbe is a character of some importance. One problem was that the Bishop was not close enough to it after it moved out to its own venue so there were fewer guard rails, unlike the people who had in in their church building before.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2zv6e762lo
Also, Stibbe was one of the victims in the John Smyth case a around 1980. Here's Stibbe on that case:
https://www.channel4.com/news/i-remember-a-man-who-used-religious-language-to-justify-violence-says-victim-of-john-symth
One thing I'm disappointed by is that the Telegraph has not tried to evaluate whether lessons have been learned over 30 years.
How is one to save for old age if one is supposed to invest it on what might turn out to be the equivalent of Fido on the 3.45 dogs' race at Dagenham? Or at least anything more than a small and, as one ages, decreasing percentage of one's assets?
Thank you all.
It would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio for likes to posts, I'm currently at 1:2.14, so I'd now have to run very fast on likes going forwards to claw that back.
I'm counting on @Dura_Ace to sort me out.
Anyway, Storm Shadow is so 2023. This week's wonder weapon and the difference that makes the difference is the FLAMINGO. Keep up.
Just end the triple lock, accelerate the state pension age moving to 70 years old, end winter fuel payments, change the bus pass from 60 to 70 years old, and time-limit benefits to 12 months in every 5 year cycle - and end PIPs. Plus, end the hugely generous pension schemes in the public sector and basically declare war on the BMA.
The howling would be heard from the moon, and there would be lots of sob stories, but spending would drop by tens of billions very quickly.
When my kids were 16 I looked at getting a Piaggio Ape 50, but they were incredibly expensive for what they were. So I made them wait until they were 17 and hooked them up with a cat C Fiesta which I bought and repaired for £500.
https://x.com/lembitopik/status/1958671936197992796?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
For
The land value idea is also one I've suggested, and makes 1000x more sense both politically and economically than the IHT business.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/24/how-riverfords-guy-singh-watson-became-the-most-brutally-honest-farmer-in-britain
..“But the easiest way to get money out of the farming sector would be to capture the 100-fold increase in land value when planning permission is granted to build houses on it,” he says. “I don’t see why the farmer should be the beneficiary of that. Maybe they should get double the agricultural value, but the rest of it should go into the public purse.” His rough estimate of how much that would raise when the government’s target of 300,000 new homes are built is £10bn – 25 times more than the inheritance tax changes.
Of all the positions he has taken, opposing Brexit brought him the most hate, he says. “But just about everything that I said has turned out to be true: it has been a complete and utter fuck-up. How can anyone argue anything else? Now we’re having to crawl back to Europe.”
He excoriates the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. “This alliance between the working poor and a load of rich rightwing toffs has been the basis of fascism for a century. How can we still be living it out? I find it really upsetting.”..
Edit: and the house has to be kept for the spouse. But my arithmetic is way out. Too much beer at lunch.
What boring, process obsessed crapulence. It’s as highway marking. So it’s already designed, signed off, evaluated, had a report written on its effect on equality etc.
In organisation that could actually do stuff, send a block with a van, some paint, some cones and some hi-viz.
Looks like Reform is Continuity Vacuousness
First two thirds cleaning walls and roads. Then, if they are very good, putting up some proper flagpoles.
My object all sublime, I shall attain in time...
Any thoughts on what's happened to Russian air defences? Asking on behalf of an ultra.
If they are up to no good e.g. Hancock with his mistress, absolutely fair game. If they make a twat of themselves when doing a press conference or public event or put stuff on their social game, same. Having a day out at the seaside with their kids. No.
It is, tbf, easier to get a high likes to posts ratio if you post regularly but not extensively - as both DA and OLB do.
It's a bit like with musicians. Both of those two are outsold in gross PB terms by mass market artists (like CR and indeed me) but you find a higher proportion of critically acclaimed gems in their ouvre. It's the 'commercial success v cult appeal' dynamic. Either is desirable but you can't have both
So pursuing this analogy possibly too far I am Coldplay, CR is Ed Sheeran, OLB is Iggy Pop and DA is Kate Bush.
1) replacement of an LLM by a human, to produce thousands of words of little meaning.
2) replacement of humans by an LLM, to produce thousands of words of little meaning.
?
ETA Singapore also actively avoids the Thatcher mistake of selling assets for current spending.
* Actually it more accurate to say the index funds the public invest isn't money under management, you call it "debt". Let say you guaranteed them their capital back, you "owe" all those people who invested their money and yes the whole stock market could totally implode, but nobody thinks of it like that.
The point is that a lot of Singapore's debt is capital that is owed to their own citizens which has been invested on their behalf for future needs. Which isn't the situation that most Western countries with 100% debt to GDP are in. Our pensions / healthcare is all the ponzi of tomorrows young having to fund todays old.
Add in they run often a budget surplus and have growth regular of ~4%, they are in excellent finance situation. But comparing a tiny city state to larger countries is comparing chalk and cheese anyway.
One point is that lamp posts are generally pretty decrepit so are dodgy; another is if Lampoon McFuckwit messes it up and it blows off onto someone's windscreen; a third is why are they emulating the hated rainbow zebras.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIyVawMiocY
Motorway bridges are generally good for getting a political point across. There was a fuck Tories graffito on one of the A20 bridges for a while, as memorable as “I like eggs”. On the A2 near sittingbourne there’s a big placard on a bridge saying “stop the family farm tax” and it’s been there for months.
£850k for something you will use a few weeks a year is a lot…
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/24/labour-abolish-most-short-prison-sentences-england-wales
The big question is, has anybody with a massive catalogue (50k posts +) managed a 1:1 ratio? That's the ultimate.
On a serious note - this removes prison sentencing from magistrates.
More seriously, she works in London and her boyfriend lives in the South. So I imagine it makes perfectly logical sense to have a nice weekend flat in Brighton.
I will be interested to know how they are going to enforce this no pubs, clubs, gigs, stuff. We going to have people securitising 24/7 GPS records from all the ankle tags?
1) catch shop lifter/phone thief
2) tag them
3) when they break the tagging rules to commit their next crime, it’s a slam dunk court case.
4) The entire process of creating a court case and sending notifications can be automated. See spending.
5) so automatic prison sentence of 6 months. No, wait….
What makes me proud is my 550 Flags
Far more than anyone else. Orders of magnitude more. Suck on that, and marvel at all the FLAGS, you bitch ass losers
For true immortal genius, you need as many Likes AND Flags as possible, because that means you are the most provocatively entertaining poster on the site, the one that most people enjoy even as others get furiously wound up
I have 44,000 Likes and 550 Flags
Most of you wankers are on about 7 Flags, or 3, or in some cases you are so dull and inane (naming no names but @Nigelb is an example) literally zero.
I win, you lose, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
*WAITS FOR FLAG*
Reticence and understatement are classic British traits. It's ironic that so many of these flag wavers have so little affinity with the culture of the country whose symbols they are attempting to appropriate.
I have 550
The next poster down from me is, AFAICS, @Casino_Royale, who has achieved a noble 45 Flags
Most aren't even in double figures. I exist on a different plane
I mean, we always knew that, but now there is proof