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  • DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Well, indeed. There are questions to be posed. The problem is the sledgehammer to crack a nut response we often get.
    If the government want to cap Tax Free Cash from pensions then they need to do it up the chain, in six figures (of TFC)
    A 100,000 pension pot at retirement age gets you a derisory annuity of just over 3 and a half grand. A government that goes after people who take a smaller figure to enjoy a 25,000 lump sum to get them a few little luxuries or home improvements has totally lost the plot.
    A lifetime allowance of 125,000 tax free cash on pensions (so half a million pots) seems OK perhaps?
    If previous precedent were to be observed, then existing higher TFC entitlements would have to be protected, and the new lower limit would actualy bite harder on younger high earners. But we're in uncharted territory now - HMT is truly desperate for soft targets to squeeze, and non-state pensions are boring and difficult to understand.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426

    Gen Z are flocking to the National Trust to relieve climate anxiety and get away from social media.

    The conservation charity has seen a surge in popularity among young people, with membership among 18 to 25-year-olds rising by 35 per cent in the year to March. Young membership numbers have increased by a further 16 per cent since the start of March, according to its annual report.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/gen-z-flock-to-national-trust-as-antidote-to-climate-anxiet/

    No booze, church and National Trust. Gen Z are a funny lot.

    A lot of places that used to be open to 10pm are now closing at 9pm or 8pm, and I think it must be something to do with this "clean living" thing.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,085
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Does anyone here have, or know about, Feed in tariffs for Solar Panels? We get a cheque every three months and Jun/JulAug was the same as Mar/Apr/May, thought it would be more

    Last year it was £200 then £300, this year both were £300… maybe we just had a sunnier spring
    Sunniest spring on record.

    England and Wales sunshine series: spring 687.4 hours, summer 628.8 hours.

    Solar strength is a little higher in summer as it peaks on 21 June, but not that much.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    To many (most) journalists, "taking the government line" means being Tame Press. Hence Brian Redhead vs Tebbit I mentioned a little while ago.

    I recall at the beginning of the New Labour era a similar disbelief that*they* were now being criticised.

    Another one was during the First Gulf War. The head of CNN complained that they weren't being given all the videos from smart bomb strikes. And that the US government was hiding the truth by not showing all the misses. The hit rate was about 85% at this point. In an interview (BBC, I think), the CNN guy said that, if given the complete set of videos, they would show a couple of the hits - and all the misses.
    There is no attempt at balance either in the criticism of the Government and the reporting of Reform. It is simply black and white. The Government are bad, Reform are good.

    Now I don't want a repeat of 2016 Boris Johnson Cenotaph footage replacing his 2019 Cenotaph fiasco. I do not want Russia Today.

    It is interesting that when Montague or Dimond host we get virtually no international news just a critique of the Government and the Tories and Eulogies for Farage and Corbyn. When Simon Jack or Stourton present we get Ukraine, or Trump, or Gaza and a little bit of Westminster.

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    edited September 8
    DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Should people be penalised for saving instead of recklessly spending their money as soon as they can?
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576
    edited September 8
    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 10,638
    edited September 8

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    To many (most) journalists, "taking the government line" means being Tame Press. Hence Brian Redhead vs Tebbit I mentioned a little while ago.

    I recall at the beginning of the New Labour era a similar disbelief that*they* were now being criticised.

    Another one was during the First Gulf War. The head of CNN complained that they weren't being given all the videos from smart bomb strikes. And that the US government was hiding the truth by not showing all the misses. The hit rate was about 85% at this point. In an interview (BBC, I think), the CNN guy said that, if given the complete set of videos, they would show a couple of the hits - and all the misses.
    There is no attempt at balance either in the criticism of the Government and the reporting of Reform. It is simply black and white. The Government are bad, Reform are good.

    Now I don't want a repeat of 2016 Boris Johnson Cenotaph footage replacing his 2019 Cenotaph fiasco. I do not want Russia Today.

    It is interesting that when Montague or Dimond host we get virtually no international news just a critique of the Government and the Tories and Eulogies for Farage and Corbyn. When Simon Jack or Stourton present we get Ukraine, or Trump, or Gaza and a little bit of Westminster.

    There's a particular kind of domestic focus of WATO on the business of politics that can sometimes be very dull.

    I think the World Tonight is often much more informative, although it doesn't get as many listeners, from what I understand.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,085
    Andy_JS said:

    DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Should people be penalised for saving instead of recklessly spending their money as soon as they can?
    What’s good for the individual isn’t necessarily good for the country. Currently we have excess saving and insufficient private spending, but both businesses and households.

    But poorer households do need some incentive to save. A flat rate of relief at, say, 30% would benefit basic rate taxpayers while still incentivising higher rate ones, just not by as much as before.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,448

    Gen Z are flocking to the National Trust to relieve climate anxiety and get away from social media.

    The conservation charity has seen a surge in popularity among young people, with membership among 18 to 25-year-olds rising by 35 per cent in the year to March. Young membership numbers have increased by a further 16 per cent since the start of March, according to its annual report.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/gen-z-flock-to-national-trust-as-antidote-to-climate-anxiet/

    No booze, church and National Trust. Gen Z are a funny lot.

    Young people are weirdly wholesome. Nothing my 19 year old daughter likes more than doing a jigsaw. She's started making her own clothes. My 13 year old is massively into crochet. It's baffling.
    Perhaps they are just normal, and normality is returning. There was, and still is, a culture obsessing with youth being excessive and different arising, I think, from the post WWII world, and reinforced from about 1963 by Beatles etc inspired music culture and (see Philip Larkin's Annus Mirabilis) the shift in sexual mores from the decline of religion and the advance of contraception. By contraception and extended education youth got extended from about age 20 to about 30 something.

    The Me Too and various related movements also, along with other features, proclaim the right of women and girls to be autonomous, private, and for those who wish it, modest in the old fashioned sense and to expect men to conduct their lives in a civilized way; while, interestingly, preserving the modern sense (again see Larkin) that autonomous sexual choices are not matters for shame, while rampant male behaviour is indeed shameful.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576
    algarkirk said:

    Gen Z are flocking to the National Trust to relieve climate anxiety and get away from social media.

    The conservation charity has seen a surge in popularity among young people, with membership among 18 to 25-year-olds rising by 35 per cent in the year to March. Young membership numbers have increased by a further 16 per cent since the start of March, according to its annual report.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/gen-z-flock-to-national-trust-as-antidote-to-climate-anxiet/

    No booze, church and National Trust. Gen Z are a funny lot.

    Young people are weirdly wholesome. Nothing my 19 year old daughter likes more than doing a jigsaw. She's started making her own clothes. My 13 year old is massively into crochet. It's baffling.
    Perhaps they are just normal, and normality is returning. There was, and still is, a culture obsessing with youth being excessive and different arising, I think, from the post WWII world, and reinforced from about 1963 by Beatles etc inspired music culture and (see Philip Larkin's Annus Mirabilis) the shift in sexual mores from the decline of religion and the advance of contraception. By contraception and extended education youth got extended from about age 20 to about 30 something.

    The Me Too and various related movements also, along with other features, proclaim the right of women and girls to be autonomous, private, and for those who wish it, modest in the old fashioned sense and to expect men to conduct their lives in a civilized way; while, interestingly, preserving the modern sense (again see Larkin) that autonomous sexual choices are not matters for shame, while rampant male behaviour is indeed shameful.
    Also, Smart phone cameras and social media clips act as a very effective preventative I reckon. Do something embarrassing in public when drunk or high now and the kind of public shame that you’d have felt in Victorian times will be upon you.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028
    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198
    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649
    dixiedean said:
    :lol:

    It's nice design though, other than the cartographical cock-up - far more interesting than mine from seven (crikey! really?) years ago

    Fascinating to know the source of the cockup - some incorrectly labelled stock artwork that was used as a base? But how the heck does no-one involved spot that in advance?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    Just landed in my inbox.

    "Robert Smithson: Econ & Energy
    Solving Homelessness
    Well, maybe more like making it less bad"

    https://substack.com/inbox/post/172988022
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    The judge is getting stick for his warm words rather than applying the law, which lets those with ‘mental illness’ free without an ankle tag apparently
  • MattWMattW Posts: 29,761
    edited September 8
    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,209

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    He will be monitored for 30 years too
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
  • Selebian said:

    dixiedean said:
    :lol:

    It's nice design though, other than the cartographical cock-up - far more interesting than mine from seven (crikey! really?) years ago

    Fascinating to know the source of the cockup - some incorrectly labelled stock artwork that was used as a base? But how the heck does no-one involved spot that in advance?
    Maybe people did spot it but were ignored, just like when the London Olympics logo was kept despite many pointing out it looked like Lisa Simpson giving a blow job. It might be coincidence that Lord Coe was involved in both.

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    edited September 8
    MattW said:

    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI

    At the last election the Tories failed to contest one constituency, Rotherham, after their candidate mysteriously pulled out at the last minute, not giving enough time for another one to be selected.

    The name of that candidate? Laila Cunningham.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,581
    carnforth said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/sep/08/labour-deputy-leadership-election-contest-keir-starmer-angela-rayner-uk-politics-live?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-68bea8df8f08f8842fbb453f#block-68bea8df8f08f8842fbb453f

    An interesting take on small boat arrivals from a researcher into what's causing people to come here, arguing that Brexit is one of the drivers. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

    The point about not being able to immediately refuse the claim causing an increase is probably true. The Dublin agreement argument is silly as usual given its failure.

    However, if were still in the EU, we would have had to become part of the EUs new migrant-sharing quota system, the increase from which would have probably outweighed any advantage from the above.

    So the counterfactual runs both ways.
    By 2016, the Dublin Accords had made us a net recipient of asylum seekers, for reasons unclear to me.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 80,096
    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    "Security concerns spiralled after probation officials refused to assess his risk because rules forbid checks on psychiatric patients."#

    How on earth have we landed with that particular wrinkle in the system ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198
    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649

    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry

    Good northern lad. I can only assume that rail and road links across Yorkshire will be getting a significant upgrade :smiley:

    (Selby MP, I've voted for him twice, making him only the second Labour Westminster candidate I've voted for. He is very visible locally, FWIW, I've run into him a few times since his election.)
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028
    MattW said:

    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI

    'It gets the debate started'
    Maybe getting destroyed in Rotherham last year rather than paraded as the great hope for Reform London might have been more suitable
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,640

    Selebian said:

    dixiedean said:
    :lol:

    It's nice design though, other than the cartographical cock-up - far more interesting than mine from seven (crikey! really?) years ago

    Fascinating to know the source of the cockup - some incorrectly labelled stock artwork that was used as a base? But how the heck does no-one involved spot that in advance?
    Maybe people did spot it but were ignored, just like when the London Olympics logo was kept despite many pointing out it looked like Lisa Simpson giving a blow job. It might be coincidence that Lord Coe was involved in both.

    Maybe Seb Coe is still jealous that Steve Cram was a better athlete and this is him getting even.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028
    Selebian said:

    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry

    Good northern lad. I can only assume that rail and road links across Yorkshire will be getting a significant upgrade :smiley:

    (Selby MP, I've voted for him twice, making him only the second Labour Westminster candidate I've voted for. He is very visible locally, FWIW, I've run into him a few times since his election.)
    I want to know what he did to look so coy and shameful about!
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,814
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    The judge is getting stick for his warm words rather than applying the law, which lets those with ‘mental illness’ free without an ankle tag apparently
    Will be interesting to see how treats the pensioners in t-shirts at sentencing. Bottles of champagne? National Trust membership?
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 6,251
    MattW said:

    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI

    I heard it. Her logic is basically you can invite anyone to the conference to speak and they can spout anything under freedom of speech and that’s okay because you can just disagree with them . She’s a moron .
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    edited September 8

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
  • Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:
    I saw that. I reckon subtle sabotage. It's quite well done in a way that doesn't scream 'wrong' at you straight away e.g. the bridges and coastline are not shown.
    I reckon it’s a Liverpool fan behind this because of the shithousery Newcastle did over freeing Alexander Isak.
    What is Tyneside's favourite South Asian dish?

    Pelaw Rice!
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576
    edited September 8
    Pulpstar said:

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    "Security concerns spiralled after probation officials refused to assess his risk because rules forbid checks on psychiatric patients."#

    How on earth have we landed with that particular wrinkle in the system ?
    Don’t worry about it, it’s not as if he was behind 9/11 and 7/7 or anything dangerous. Plus he’s a schizophrenic now, and we know how reliable and trustworthy they are. Probably have a few funny stories to tell down the pub on a Saturday night

    Nothing to see here. All the best for the future, hope life in that US prison wasn’t too uncomfy
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,209

    MattW said:

    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI

    'It gets the debate started'
    Maybe getting destroyed in Rotherham last year rather than paraded as the great hope for Reform London might have been more suitable
    Cunningham would now be more likely to get elected in Rotherham as Reform than in Westminster.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051
    Francois Bayrou is just a non-stop waffler, he deserves to lose this vote
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,855

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,054
    Andy_JS said:

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
    And freshly topical.

    I said, now, watch what you say, they'll be calling you a radical
    A liberal, oh, fanatical, criminal
    Oh, won't you sign up your name? We'd like to feel you're acceptable
    Respectable, oh, presentable, a vegetable..
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649
    edited September 8

    Selebian said:

    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry

    Good northern lad. I can only assume that rail and road links across Yorkshire will be getting a significant upgrade :smiley:

    (Selby MP, I've voted for him twice, making him only the second Labour Westminster candidate I've voted for. He is very visible locally, FWIW, I've run into him a few times since his election.)
    I want to know what he did to look so coy and shameful about!
    It's probably more what he knows he's going to have to do now on the government payroll! :wink:

    (Or disappointment with the offered role - "What? Transport? Oh yes, that would be... lovely.")
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028
    HYUFD said:

    MattW said:

    An interview by Lewis Goodall with Councillor Laila Cunningham, who is one of Farage's identified female faces at the top of Reform UK. 13 minutes.

    Laila is a former-Con RefUK councillor in the City of Westminster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFxkp7jygI

    'It gets the debate started'
    Maybe getting destroyed in Rotherham last year rather than paraded as the great hope for Reform London might have been more suitable
    Cunningham would now be more likely to get elected in Rotherham as Reform than in Westminster.
    That's true, she will be sent packing in May.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,708
    Andy_JS said:

    DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Should people be penalised for saving instead of recklessly spending their money as soon as they can?
    The problem with savings, including pensions, is that they create an ever-increasing class of rentiers with a claim on the goods and services provided by the less well-off. This exacerbates the inequality which lies at the root of most of our current problems. Pensions were originally intended to benefit individuals enfeebled by a lifetime of unremitting toil but still, miraculously, alive. Now they promise half a lifetime of leisure and prosperity which can only be delivered by those still working for a pittance. For avoidance of doubt I'm a conspicuous beneficiary of this arrangement, and if it were just me and my friends there'd be no problem. But when it extends to half the population it's bound to fuel resentment among the other half, especially if they lose faith that their turn will come.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,054
    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028

    Andy_JS said:

    DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Should people be penalised for saving instead of recklessly spending their money as soon as they can?
    The problem with savings, including pensions, is that they create an ever-increasing class of rentiers with a claim on the goods and services provided by the less well-off. This exacerbates the inequality which lies at the root of most of our current problems. Pensions were originally intended to benefit individuals enfeebled by a lifetime of unremitting toil but still, miraculously, alive. Now they promise half a lifetime of leisure and prosperity which can only be delivered by those still working for a pittance. For avoidance of doubt I'm a conspicuous beneficiary of this arrangement, and if it were just me and my friends there'd be no problem. But when it extends to half the population it's bound to fuel resentment among the other half, especially if they lose faith that their turn will come.
    Consume, obey, pay tax, die. Anything else might make the chimney sweeps sad.
    A thrilling existence for all. Well worth the trip, would recommend
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649
    TimS said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Does anyone here have, or know about, Feed in tariffs for Solar Panels? We get a cheque every three months and Jun/JulAug was the same as Mar/Apr/May, thought it would be more

    Last year it was £200 then £300, this year both were £300… maybe we just had a sunnier spring
    Sunniest spring on record.

    England and Wales sunshine series: spring 687.4 hours, summer 628.8 hours.

    Solar strength is a little higher in summer as it peaks on 21 June, but not that much.
    Yes, we also had pretty similar earnings over the two periods - the spring payment was high rather than the summer one being low.
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576
    Nigelb said:

    Andy_JS said:

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
    And freshly topical.

    I said, now, watch what you say, they'll be calling you a radical
    A liberal, oh, fanatical, criminal
    Oh, won't you sign up your name? We'd like to feel you're acceptable
    Respectable, oh, presentable, a vegetable..
    Your comment should have been made after the lyrics, would have scanned well
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,173
    @KevinASchofield
    SCOOP: Emily Thornberry asking Labour MPs to back her for deputy leader.

    In a message seen by HuffPost UK, she says: "Welfare, Gaza, employment rights, wealth inequality - too many mistakes. We’ve been telling them and they aren’t listening."
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 6,251
    Scott_xP said:

    @KevinASchofield
    SCOOP: Emily Thornberry asking Labour MPs to back her for deputy leader.

    In a message seen by HuffPost UK, she says: "Welfare, Gaza, employment rights, wealth inequality - too many mistakes. We’ve been telling them and they aren’t listening."

    I like her but don’t think she has a chance of winning .
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,773
    edited September 8
    Did anyone see Haigh's New Statesman article?

    IANAE(conomist), so I don't know whether its thesis is bunk, but the basic thesis was that mismatches between budget cycles, OBR forecast timeframes and bond durations and terms is biasing government decision making in a certain direction. Quite a detailed and subtle argument for someone who hasn't been near a Treasury brief, and probably plays well to her audience without screaming Eurosausage.

    Interesting stuff.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 16,137
    Nigelb said:

    Andy_JS said:

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
    And freshly topical.

    I said, now, watch what you say, they'll be calling you a radical
    A liberal, oh, fanatical, criminal
    Oh, won't you sign up your name? We'd like to feel you're acceptable
    Respectable, oh, presentable, a vegetable..
    #pbpedantry "The Logical Song" was largely written by the other key guy in Supertramp, Roger Hodgson.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    The latest celebrity to show an interesting in buying a property in the Cotswolds: Beyonce.

    https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/beyonce-buy-house-cotswolds-winnington-gcr53kbv5
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 80,096
    isam said:

    Does anyone here have, or know about, Feed in tariffs for Solar Panels? We get a cheque every three months and Jun/JulAug was the same as Mar/Apr/May, thought it would be more

    March was sunnier than August, May was sunnier than July and April was sunnier than June according to my app.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,028
    nico67 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @KevinASchofield
    SCOOP: Emily Thornberry asking Labour MPs to back her for deputy leader.

    In a message seen by HuffPost UK, she says: "Welfare, Gaza, employment rights, wealth inequality - too many mistakes. We’ve been telling them and they aren’t listening."

    I like her but don’t think she has a chance of winning .
    Hermer will not want her winning for sure
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,054
    .
    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051
    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,868
    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    Square that circle
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 16,137

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    ALAN, WAKE UP! There's some interesting polling about US attitudes to immigration.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    ALAN, WAKE UP! There's some interesting polling about US attitudes to immigration.
    It's about as exciting as Gaza
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 7,066
    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    "As a whole..." is not very useful framing when the entire question is who to let in and who not to let in.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,054

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
  • I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,880

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    It's very true. They like some idea of Britain but seem to hate large parts of the reality. Farage's decision to go to the US to ask them to punish the UK was particularly egregious. A poundland Lord Haw Haw.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649
    carnforth said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    "As a whole..." is not very useful framing when the entire question is who to let in and who not to let in.
    Yeah, you have to be picky. A stricter immigration policy in the 30s might have made Donald Trump, if he even existed, ineligible to be president.
  • scampi25scampi25 Posts: 278
    nico67 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @KevinASchofield
    SCOOP: Emily Thornberry asking Labour MPs to back her for deputy leader.

    In a message seen by HuffPost UK, she says: "Welfare, Gaza, employment rights, wealth inequality - too many mistakes. We’ve been telling them and they aren’t listening."

    I like her but don’t think she has a chance of winning .
    I'd be delighted if she won as would all good right wingers.
  • Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    This was around the '90s. One judge famously had never heard of Gazza, the footballer, and thought he was a reference to La Gazza Ladra, an opera by Rossini.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,054
    carnforth said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    "As a whole..." is not very useful framing when the entire question is who to let in and who not to let in.
    If you want more detail.
    https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,891
    Andy_JS said:

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
    Fantastic LP cover as well.

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Hang on, is NigelB a PB Leftie now?
  • isamisam Posts: 42,576

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    Patriotism is about as easy to define as class, in other words it can be twisted to mean anything and then used to accuse others of not being sufficiently worthy. Left wingers will say Britain is a nation of immigrants, so anyone anti mass immigration is unpatriotic, right wingers can say anyone who doesn’t wave the flag enough isn’t a patriot. It’s not a discussion that will ever see consensus. For what it’s worth I wouldn’t consider myself patriotic at all really.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,640

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    The like the idea of 1950s England. For them, it started going downhill when the Empire Windrush docked. It got worse when conscription ended. It went further downhill when the Empire was dismantled. It collapsed totally when we joined the Common Market.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,891
    Stephen Bush

    @stephenkb.bsky.social‬
    Andy Burnham is not gonna become Labour's next leader, come off it, I mean how would that work, needs a winnable by-election in frankly, a handful of seats, to be able to quit as mayor, this is 'Ruth Davidson to save the Tories' all over again.

    https://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3lydbmaxh3s2x
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,173

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    This was around the '90s. One judge famously had never heard of Gazza, the footballer, and thought he was a reference to La Gazza Ladra, an opera by Rossini.
    You mean an album by Marillion
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,173
    Just wait for model Y

    @Reuters

    Exclusive: Tesla market share in US drops to lowest since 2017 as competition heats up
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,448

    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry

    He looks so like a 13 year old trying on his first suit for his big sister's wedding. He's actually 27.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,814

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Your words are some comfort at this dark time.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 10,370

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    I suspect it's that these people really, really loathe Britain when they view it through the prism of a Labour government. They probably didn't like it much through the Dave prism either. The Boris prism was okay for a time. It was through the Truss prism that they'd have been the happiest.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,814

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    The like the idea of 1950s England. For them, it started going downhill when the Empire Windrush docked. It got worse when conscription ended. It went further downhill when the Empire was dismantled. It collapsed totally when we joined the Common Market.
    Which is weird because they absolutely hate cyclists, even though cycling was 8x as popular in the 50s.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,640
    algarkirk said:

    https://x.com/transportgovuk/status/1964967200806384048?s=19

    You cant look at the picture and conclude anything other than hes very very sorry

    He looks so like a 13 year old trying on his first suit for his big sister's wedding. He's actually 27.
    Labour’s William Hague, although he doesn’t look like a 10 pints a night man.
  • Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
    On the subject of misguided judge bashing, here's the new Banksy


    Gavels ffs.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrq0r0y878o
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,640
    Eabhal said:

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    The like the idea of 1950s England. For them, it started going downhill when the Empire Windrush docked. It got worse when conscription ended. It went further downhill when the Empire was dismantled. It collapsed totally when we joined the Common Market.
    Which is weird because they absolutely hate cyclists, even though cycling was 8x as popular in the 50s.
    They wouldn’t be cyclists themselves, though. The would be behind the wheel of an MG Magnette, complete with string backed leather gloves.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,855

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.

    Just consider the course of events if their action were to proceed to trial ... If the six men failed it would mean that much time and money and worry would have been expended by many people to no good purpose. If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous. ... That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, "It cannot be right that these actions should go any further.


    And FDR nearly resorted to packing the Supreme Court - which is the ultimate attack on a court. Replace the judges, or overwhelm their voting with packing.

    In that case, the judgements that sparked this were fairly traditional US jurisprudence, just that they opposed the Will Of The People Expressed Through Their Government.

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198
    isam said:

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    Patriotism is about as easy to define as class, in other words it can be twisted to mean anything and then used to accuse others of not being sufficiently worthy. Left wingers will say Britain is a nation of immigrants, so anyone anti mass immigration is unpatriotic, right wingers can say anyone who doesn’t wave the flag enough isn’t a patriot. It’s not a discussion that will ever see consensus. For what it’s worth I wouldn’t consider myself patriotic at all really.
    That is a pretty narrow definition in both directions of patriotism. Loving or hating foreigners seems a pretty weak notion of patriotism.

    How about buying only British where possible or being prepared to die for what one's nation represents against an aggressive foreign nation foe. I'd be prepared to do both, not that I would be much use in the latter category at 63.

    Flying a flag demonstrates very little, when I was much younger I used to display a small Union flag on my (politically British, but Cologne made) Ford car as a message to buy British. So even centre-left traitors like me show the right sort of flag sometimes. It didn't make me a patriot.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 16,137

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Hey! What about PB Centrists?

    I'm tired of all this "why are you talking about Trump" deflection. Firstly, there are lots of betting opportunities in US politics, so understanding US politics is important there. Secondly, because the US is the US, what Trump does impacts us and the rest of the world. (Personally, Trump winning the presidency probably impacts me more than, say, whoever wins the Senedd next year, but that's because I own a bunch of $$$ that could rapidly shrink in value.) And what Trump has been doing is unprecedented. Thirdly, UK politics is also connected to US politics. Nigel Farage is a huge Trump fan and we see other UK politicians going over to the US convention/think tank circuit (like Truss). Many political ideas and movements in the US directly affect UK politics: examples include deportations, anti-vax, anti-abortion, Black Lives Matter.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,855

    isam said:

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    Patriotism is about as easy to define as class, in other words it can be twisted to mean anything and then used to accuse others of not being sufficiently worthy. Left wingers will say Britain is a nation of immigrants, so anyone anti mass immigration is unpatriotic, right wingers can say anyone who doesn’t wave the flag enough isn’t a patriot. It’s not a discussion that will ever see consensus. For what it’s worth I wouldn’t consider myself patriotic at all really.
    That is a pretty narrow definition in both directions of patriotism. Loving or hating foreigners seems a pretty weak notion of patriotism.

    How about buying only British where possible or being prepared to die for what one's nation represents against an aggressive foreign nation foe. I'd be prepared to do both, not that I would be much use in the latter category at 63.

    Flying a flag demonstrates very little, when I was much younger I used to display a small Union flag on my (politically British, but Cologne made) Ford car as a message to buy British. So even centre-left traitors like me show the right sort of flag sometimes. It didn't make me a patriot.
    Negative nationalism was is the concept of a Nationalism defined by what you hate - see https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/notes-on-nationalism/
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,173

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
    On the subject of misguided judge bashing, here's the new Banksy


    Gavels ffs.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrq0r0y878o
    It has already been pointed out by m'learned friends that judges never use a gavel, while wearing their wig...
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 16,137
    Scott_xP said:

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
    On the subject of misguided judge bashing, here's the new Banksy


    Gavels ffs.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrq0r0y878o
    It has already been pointed out by m'learned friends that judges never use a gavel, while wearing their wig...
    Gosh. Why do judges never use a gavel while wearing their wig?
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Hey! What about PB Centrists?

    I'm tired of all this "why are you talking about Trump" deflection. Firstly, there are lots of betting opportunities in US politics, so understanding US politics is important there. Secondly, because the US is the US, what Trump does impacts us and the rest of the world. (Personally, Trump winning the presidency probably impacts me more than, say, whoever wins the Senedd next year, but that's because I own a bunch of $$$ that could rapidly shrink in value.) And what Trump has been doing is unprecedented. Thirdly, UK politics is also connected to US politics. Nigel Farage is a huge Trump fan and we see other UK politicians going over to the US convention/think tank circuit (like Truss). Many political ideas and movements in the US directly affect UK politics: examples include deportations, anti-vax, anti-abortion, Black Lives Matter.
    It's all Anglo for you centrists. You witter on about leaving the EU but never pay any attention to whats happening there.. Macron, Merz Meloni Europe's 3M gets less focus than Post it notes.

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,855

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
    On the subject of misguided judge bashing, here's the new Banksy


    Gavels ffs.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrq0r0y878o
    I presume the counsel in shot is arranging the sale of the new Banksy?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 56,358
    Andy_JS said:

    DavidL said:

    Lots of scare stories in the media about possible tax rises on pensions but Philip Inman openly advocates it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/06/rachel-reeves-50bn-problem-solved-stop-pension-tax-relief

    The bigoted cretin thinks that ending the tax free lump sum on pensions will hit boomers when in reality it is the following generations who will suffer more.

    It would also kill private pensions as nobody will ever save more into a pension beyond what is needed to get a matching employer contribution.

    The thought of ordinary working class people having their own £500k personal pension pot really does seem to infuriate some leftists.

    I love it - wealthier pensioners 'by virtue of having a pension'
    Everyone should be in fucking abject poverty in retirement on the 2 and 6 from the govt
    I have to declare several interests in this matter. Firstly, my personal pension funds are around £700k with my wife having a bit more, maybe another £50k.
    Secondly, especially in recent years, that sum has been accumulated by the government paying 20% on to my contributions and, in addition, giving me tax relief of 20% in addition (the actually mechanics of this have moved from the Byzantine to the incomprehensible but the broad thrust remains the same). When I retire in a few years I am hoping to receive a significant tax free lump sum that can pay for some serious self indulgence on the part of both myself and my much more deserving spouse.

    In short, my pension has accrued because of a scheme which could only reasonably be called fantastically generous. What is the public interest in this? Well, as I have been incentivised to save this way I will not be claiming any means related benefits as a pensioner. I have deferred expenditure which, along with other pension savers, has made funds available for investment, something this country sorely needs. If I had not had these incentives I might have made other choices. Or, of course, I might have thought I needed to save even more.

    Taking a step back, pensions are a major benefit, costing well in excess of £50bn of foregone taxes a year, for the better off. Why should those on HRT get more tax relief than those on basic rate? Surely, if anything, it should be the other way around. Why should I get a serious chunk of deferred income, topped up with government funds, tax free when those with less income or a smaller pension pot get less? Again, should it not be the other way around?

    What people like me have to face is should we be cutting welfare for the disabled, the sick and the genuinely incompetent or should the focus in fact be on people like me? Don't tell the wife I am even asking the question.
    Should people be penalised for saving instead of recklessly spending their money as soon as they can?
    Getting 20% added to your money from taxpayers funds and then getting to pay less tax is not penalising them. It is, as I said, extremely generous. A wealthy friend of mine, back when this was even more generous still, used to pay lump sums into his pension fund to basically eliminate the higher rate part of his tax bill completely. That is not penalising. It is also the case that many used these pensions to transfer very large sums to the next generation without paying IHT. This is belatedly being restricted but once again I would not call that penalising.

    Pensions are a massive distortion and a huge benefit for the better off which can result in the wealthy and well paid paying less tax than those that are earning less. But I suspect Reeves and Starmer are too frit to do anything about it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Most of them have run out from PB. There are very few of us left, although we have been joined by some One Nation Tories who don't like some of the dark corners the right are kettling us into.

    This Government have been pathetic and Reeves one of the least effective, but they still have a long way to fall to match the pre-Sunak 2019 intake Tory Government. Although continuity Sunak works for me too.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,649
    edited September 8

    Scott_xP said:

    Andy_JS said:

    isam said:

    Reading the judges comments, it sounds like he’s addressing a teenage orphan who has been in trouble for shoplifting

    A JUDGE has sparked fury by wishing the 7/7 bombings mastermind “all the best” as he prepares to walk free.

    Sir Robert Jay sympathised with al-Qaeda fiend Haroon Aswat, 50, who will be released from hospital to Yorkshire despite police fears he remains a threat.


    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36609040/sir-robert-jay-judge-haroon-aswat-best-wishes/

    I doubt I want this bastard out on the streets any more than you do. But once again it is an attack by far right figures Farage and Jenrick on the judiciary and individual judges. Surely there must be some sort of guidance he has to use. If there is a problem with this MF's release it is the Government's responsibility not that of the Judge who is following their rules.
    Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm sure the left used to criticise judges a long time ago when they had a reputation for being extremely conservative, old-fashioned, etc.
    An attack on the judiciary is a cornerstone of authoritarianism. Just ask the ghost of Hannah Arendt.

    I suspect authoritarians of the left or the right are keen to undermine Judges.
    So criticism of the Dredd Scott decision is a prelude to Fascism?

    Courts have leeway in judgement. Just look at the differentials in the interpretations of the ECHR in the UK and Switzerland.

    Trying to claim that judges are Platonic Guardians, immune to all criticism is equally problematic.
    Gordon Bennett! The current SCOTUS demonstrates your point, but mine retains it's validity too.

    One of the key tenets of fascism is attacking courts and judges. You saw it in 1930s Germany, you can see it in Trump's US. You can pull up an example where the law was an ass, but the general rule still stands.

    Anyway I always preferred AC/DC when Dredd Scott was lead singer.
    On the subject of misguided judge bashing, here's the new Banksy


    Gavels ffs.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrq0r0y878o
    It has already been pointed out by m'learned friends that judges never use a gavel, while wearing their wig...
    Gosh. Why do judges never use a gavel while wearing their wig?
    Health and safety. Risk of gavel getting caught in wig resulting in serious head or neck injuries or embarrassment.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,640

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Hey! What about PB Centrists?

    I'm tired of all this "why are you talking about Trump" deflection. Firstly, there are lots of betting opportunities in US politics, so understanding US politics is important there. Secondly, because the US is the US, what Trump does impacts us and the rest of the world. (Personally, Trump winning the presidency probably impacts me more than, say, whoever wins the Senedd next year, but that's because I own a bunch of $$$ that could rapidly shrink in value.) And what Trump has been doing is unprecedented. Thirdly, UK politics is also connected to US politics. Nigel Farage is a huge Trump fan and we see other UK politicians going over to the US convention/think tank circuit (like Truss). Many political ideas and movements in the US directly affect UK politics: examples include deportations, anti-vax, anti-abortion, Black Lives Matter.
    It's all Anglo for you centrists. You witter on about leaving the EU but never pay any attention to whats happening there.. Macron, Merz Meloni Europe's 3M gets less focus than Post it notes.

    I wish there was more media coverage of European politics. I know what happens in the the USA affects us in the UK, but so does what happens in our European neighbours. For example, we don’t hear about European countries health services, taxation rates or immigration rates. Our voters would be more educated if we did.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Hey! What about PB Centrists?

    I'm tired of all this "why are you talking about Trump" deflection. Firstly, there are lots of betting opportunities in US politics, so understanding US politics is important there. Secondly, because the US is the US, what Trump does impacts us and the rest of the world. (Personally, Trump winning the presidency probably impacts me more than, say, whoever wins the Senedd next year, but that's because I own a bunch of $$$ that could rapidly shrink in value.) And what Trump has been doing is unprecedented. Thirdly, UK politics is also connected to US politics. Nigel Farage is a huge Trump fan and we see other UK politicians going over to the US convention/think tank circuit (like Truss). Many political ideas and movements in the US directly affect UK politics: examples include deportations, anti-vax, anti-abortion, Black Lives Matter.
    It's all Anglo for you centrists. You witter on about leaving the EU but never pay any attention to whats happening there.. Macron, Merz Meloni Europe's 3M gets less focus than Post it notes.

    I wish there was more media coverage of European politics. I know what happens in the the USA affects us in the UK, but so does what happens in our European neighbours. For example, we don’t hear about European countries health services, taxation rates or immigration rates. Our voters would be more educated if we did.
    France will be on PM number 6 by the end of today, Ireland is whittling down its presidential hopefuls. Our tow closest neighbours they rarely get a look in.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    "No 10 says commuters 'rightly fed up' with Tube strikes and calls for more talks"

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/czew3z331dxt
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,198
    Andy_JS said:

    R4 WATO spent 5 minutes on the Jerusalem murders, another 5 on the death of Supertamp's Rick Davies and a 35 minute hatchet job on the Government. Now that is fair enough, but surely any pretence that the BBC are still impartial needs to be clarified. The BBC should, like the press media endorse a specific party so we the viewer and listener know where we are, be that Reform or the Conservatives. The Charter is no longer applied.

    Supertramp came up with two 10/10 songs in 1979 imo: Breakfast In America and the Logical Song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdoUUi3iJ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg

    Paul McCartney apparently said at the time that the Logical Song was the best song he'd heard in 10 years.
    I like "Give a little bit" best, although I don't believe Hodgson or Davies wrote a bad song.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 6,251
    scampi25 said:

    nico67 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @KevinASchofield
    SCOOP: Emily Thornberry asking Labour MPs to back her for deputy leader.

    In a message seen by HuffPost UK, she says: "Welfare, Gaza, employment rights, wealth inequality - too many mistakes. We’ve been telling them and they aren’t listening."

    I like her but don’t think she has a chance of winning .
    I'd be delighted if she won as would all good right wingers.
    Sorry to disappoint you because I just can’t see her winning.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,367

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Alan, I cannot see how you can possibly categorise this dreadful government as 'just continuity Sunak' when in their first year they have:

    - Cancelled the cap that was coming for social care fees
    - Cancelled measures to secure free speech in universities
    - Scrapped Ofsted school summary gradings
    - Given the Chagos away
    - Removed historical paintings from No 10
    - changed fiscal rules so they can borrow even more
    - Intensify agitations for absurd reparations
    - Award public sector pay demands in full
    - Cancelled forthcoming policy to prioritise uk residents of 10 years + getting social accommodation
    - cancelled Rwanda scheme

    Plus the disastrous Employment Rights Bill:

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67f6711f555773bbf109e21a/employment-rights-bill-overview.pdf

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 37,426
    Eabhal said:

    I hate the Telegraph, they’ve nicked an idea for an upcoming thread I had (although mine was about Britain rather than just England)

    Reform’s biggest problem? Many of them don’t seem to like England

    A lot of their senior leaders are driven by Right-wing ideology, not a patriotic love of nation


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/08/reform-biggest-problem-dont-seem-to-like-england/

    The like the idea of 1950s England. For them, it started going downhill when the Empire Windrush docked. It got worse when conscription ended. It went further downhill when the Empire was dismantled. It collapsed totally when we joined the Common Market.
    Which is weird because they absolutely hate cyclists, even though cycling was 8x as popular in the 50s.
    How do we know they dislike cyclists?
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,051
    Stocky said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    .

    Nigelb said:

    I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
    https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/1964995089480266031

    S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant.
    https://x.com/koryodynasty/status/1964894916632604784

    Meanwhile.

    New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1964707215866257819
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    Thrilling comment from you there, AB.
    I feel sorry in some ways for the PB Lefties.

    After 14 years of crap government you are meant to be rubbing the Right;s nose in it as the grown ups take charge.

    Instead we have a total shitshow Starmer is just continuity Sunak and Labour have come in to power with few ideas. There is nothing good to say about this government.

    As a result the PB Left have all gone in to their comfort zones for you it's talking more about the US than your own country - the comfort blanket of opposing Trump - for others its the comfort of criticising the previous 14 years rather than talking about the next 4.,

    Have all the PB Lefties run out of ideas ?
    Alan, I cannot see how you can possibly categorise this dreadful government as 'just continuity Sunak' when in their first year they have:

    - Cancelled the cap that was coming for social care fees
    - Cancelled measures to secure free speech in universities
    - Scrapped Ofsted school summary gradings
    - Given the Chagos away
    - Removed historical paintings from No 10
    - changed fiscal rules so they can borrow even more
    - Intensify agitations for absurd reparations
    - Award public sector pay demands in full
    - Cancelled forthcoming policy to prioritise uk residents of 10 years + getting social accommodation
    - cancelled Rwanda scheme

    Plus the disastrous Employment Rights Bill:

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67f6711f555773bbf109e21a/employment-rights-bill-overview.pdf

    because most of the things you mention have been the consequence of so called Conservatives. Free speech got trashed, Cleverly kicked off Chagos, paintings were on walls as Sunak raced home from DDay, Boris borrowed like a drunken sailor and threw open the borders etc. etc,

    Until somebody tackles the failings of the post 1997 sett;lement we are all stuffed.
  • NEW THREAD

  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,034
    On the Greens, I'd managed to forget about Natalie Bennett - psychological self-defence at work!

    In terms of doing a deal with the vapourware party I would be very surprised if that came about. Corbyn and his ilk are the very opposite of collegiate and good at bridging divides and so it would be hard for them to come to terms.

    The Greens have historically been wary of anything too formal because it's hard to do a deal with the left when the left is always changing its identity. There always seems to be a new left-vehicle for each election. The Greens want to build a consistent relationship with voters, which would be damaged by standing aside in a seat for an alliance that doesn't still exist for the election afterwards.

    I think it's to the Greens' credit that the party has been able to combine both centrists and leftists united around a focus on the urgency of dealing with environmental issues. This is one reason why the trans issue has been so damaging, because they've lost their tolerance for internal dissent.

    If Polanski can capture the public's imagination then there's a lot of potential for the Greens to make Corbyn's ragtag band look amateurish and stuck in the past, the Lib Dems to be too staid and conventional, and Labour, obviously, to have failed in practice - leaving the Greens as the best alternative not on the far-right. If he's good enough then the details of left/centrist positioning won't matter. The better leaders can attract a broader base of support.

    But, well, I have my doubts.
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