Ryder cup is clearly the best golf tournament, no other tournament can conjure the drama unless you're particularly incvested in one player for some reason.
Pro Europe party in Moldova pulls ahead in election with decetnt gap between it and pro Russia party despite a massive alleged vote-buying scheme targeting activistis, journalists, influencers and even priests.
Pro Europe party in Moldova pulls ahead in election with decetnt gap between it and pro Russia party despite a massive alleged vote-buying scheme targeting activistis, journalists, influencers and even priests.
Looks like PPDA will make the cut as on 5.7%, and is pro EU too, so looks like Putin is a loser.
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Approx 1 in 3 women in the UK have an abortion at some point.
Becoming increasingly MAGA. Weird for the UK.
I guess the questions are whether Reform voters particularly care, or whether they're radicalising in the US-dominated online morass at the same time, or if they'll follow Farage regardless?
Quite. Man City winning the Premiership with virtually the last kick of the ball to steal it from deadly rivals Man Utn. Jonny Wilkinson drop goal? Botham 1981. Stokes 2019 (twice). And on, and on.
Berrien, the CEO of Pindel Global Precision, is campaigning as a conservative leader who stands up for family values. The MAGA wannabe candidate has been especially critical of transgender individuals, saying they are engaged in "radical social experimentation." "Take it from a dad and a coach, I will keep boys out of our daughters' sports and locker rooms," the Whitefish Bay businessman says in a recent TV ad. A new ad praises President Donald Trump for "protecting our daughters' sports."
But the Journal Sentinel reported this week that his online footprint tells a different story...
Quite. Man City winning the Premiership with virtually the last kick of the ball to steal it from deadly rivals Man Utn. Jonny Wilkinson drop goal? Botham 1981. Stokes 2019 (twice). And on, and on.
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Is the 30bn hole the original 20bn hole + 10bn, or is it a new 30bn hole ontop? I'm losing track.
Somewhat tangentially, I was looking about for a Frank Zappa track tonight and came across this :
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Income tax will be increased by 1% across all bands 2026 to 2030, will be announced as a limited 4 tax years measure, back down 2030. Might be described as another levy. Also threshold freeze to 2030. Overall raises £50bn. Labour won't increase VAT
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Income tax will be increased by 1% across all bands 2026 to 2030, will be announced as a limited 4 tax years measure, back down 2030. Might be described as another levy. Also threshold freeze to 2030. Overall raises £50bn. Labour won't increase VAT
At some point enough people will notice they're paying marginal 40%.
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Is the 30bn hole the original 20bn hole + 10bn, or is it a new 30bn hole ontop? I'm losing track.
Somewhat tangentially, I was looking about for a Frank Zappa track tonight and came across this :
Its new, but its based upon missing the plans by the end of the parliament Reeves set out in her first budget, but by making predictions 4 years ahead. So there is a fair amount of margin for error, but the general take away is by their own score card they are now as down bad as the US were after 2 days of the Ryder Cup.
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Income tax will be increased by 1% across all bands 2026 to 2030, will be announced as a limited 4 tax years measure, back down 2030. Might be described as another levy. Also threshold freeze to 2030. Overall raises £50bn. Labour won't increase VAT
I know current parliament can't bind future parliament. But is there much of a precedent for "we will increase income tax for five years and then reduce it again. That is beyond this parliament - but you can judge us at the next election if you trust us to do that"? I'm not familiar enough with the original income tax 'temporary' legislation to know how it was sold.
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
I think he feels he should not usurp Reeves job and start announcing budgetty things.
What they could do is widen the scope of VAT. Slap it on food.
Massively regressive but if you yack up the basic UC benefit levels then maybe not so??
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Income tax will be increased by 1% across all bands 2026 to 2030, will be announced as a limited 4 tax years measure, back down 2030. Might be described as another levy. Also threshold freeze to 2030. Overall raises £50bn. Labour won't increase VAT
I know current parliament can't bind future parliament. But is there much of a precedent for "we will increase income tax for five years and then reduce it again. That is beyond this parliament - but you can judge us at the next election if you trust us to do that"? I'm not familiar enough with the original income tax 'temporary' legislation to know how it was sold.
I believe some thresholds eg IHT are already frozen until 2030? I may be wrong?? And of course it can always be changed in a future budget under either this Parliament or future Parliaments
It's simply a way of saying 'we need to put the tax up but it's our intention to reverse it out in 2030'
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
I think he feels he should not usurp Reeves job and start announcing budgetty things.
What they could do is widen the scope of VAT. Slap it on food.
Massively regressive but if you yack up the basic UC benefit levels then maybe not so??
VAT should really be reformed. The nonsense of "luxury" goods vs not luxury is total BS these days. If you go around a CostCo you see how inconsistent it all is. The problem is the pasty tax went down so badly no politician wants to actually address it.
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
I think he feels he should not usurp Reeves job and start announcing budgetty things.
What they could do is widen the scope of VAT. Slap it on food.
Massively regressive but if you yack up the basic UC benefit levels then maybe not so??
VAT should really be reformed. The nonsense of "luxury" goods vs not luxury is total BS these days. If you go around a CostCo you see how inconsistent it all is. The problem is the pasty tax went down so badly no politician wants to actually address it.
Yes bring back the purchase tax now we have left the eu
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
Is the 30bn hole the original 20bn hole + 10bn, or is it a new 30bn hole ontop? I'm losing track.
Somewhat tangentially, I was looking about for a Frank Zappa track tonight and came across this :
Its new, but its based upon missing the plans by the end of the parliament Reeves set out in her first budget, but by making predictions 4 years ahead. So there is a fair amount of margin for error, but the general take away is by their own score card they are now as down bad as the US were after 2 days of the Ryder Cup.
Maybe Trump can fly over Conference in Air Force One to raise their spirits?
I see this Putin/Reform thing from the other thread.
I think one greedy bozo in Wales taking the shilling is not exactly a smoking gun
All I will say is this, and I have pointed to it before over the last couple of years, look at the donor base that now back Reform on top of some inidividuals in the party, and you might have something more substantial to go to the voters with.
Berrien, the CEO of Pindel Global Precision, is campaigning as a conservative leader who stands up for family values. The MAGA wannabe candidate has been especially critical of transgender individuals, saying they are engaged in "radical social experimentation." "Take it from a dad and a coach, I will keep boys out of our daughters' sports and locker rooms," the Whitefish Bay businessman says in a recent TV ad. A new ad praises President Donald Trump for "protecting our daughters' sports."
But the Journal Sentinel reported this week that his online footprint tells a different story...
Berrien just ended his campaign.
No inconsistency there. After all, they couldn't be in his daughters' locker rooms if they were safely on the end of his cock
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
He needs a reset. First look like he's enjoying it and second look like he's in charge. He needs to start governing with a smile on his face.
2029 election pretty much hinges on Shabana Mahmood.
Amazingly, few know her name.
Total non story.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Its Starmer doing his lawyer thing again that causes a story. He replies in such an odd way that always looks like he trying to ensure he can claim at a later date that it was the viewer that misinterpreted this reply.
He needs a reset. First look like he's enjoying it and second look like he's in charge. He needs to start governing with a smile on his face.
Your joking, not another one....its only 3 weeks since the last reset.
Hadn't heard the word Autist before. And now that's twice in one day. Clearly MAGA and their bots and shills have nowt better to do than push new spectacularly unimpressive terms. (Other than watch trans porn and project natch).
Although people focus on the genetic problems inherent to cousin marriages, another disadvantage is that it leads to clans.
In the nuclear family wealth cascades downwards, with grandchildren gradually inheriting from grandparents and setting up independent nuclear families of their own, like cells dividing: society grows. But with cousin marriages, wealth is diffused more indistinctly and clans begin to build up, with arguments resolved by elders and headstrong young men, and where you have clans you inevitably have clan warfare. Imagine a society where everybody behaves like they are members of a crime family. It's not a good solution to the problem of how people perpetuate themselves.
Although people focus on the genetic problems inherent to cousin marriages, another disadvantage is that it leads to clans.
In the nuclear family wealth cascades downwards, with grandchildren gradually inheriting from grandparents and setting up independent nuclear families of their own, like cells dividing: society grows. But with cousin marriages, wealth is diffused more indistinctly and clans begin to build up, with arguments resolved by elders and headstrong young men, and where you have clans you inevitably have clan warfare. Imagine a society where everybody behaves like they are members of a crime family. It's not a good solution to the problem of how people perpetuate themselves.
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers. The trend in graduate hiring is particularly bleak, with advertised vacancies down 8% to 14,162 in August, 8% below the previous month and more than a third lower than this time last year.
Healthcare workers and teachers have also emerged as among the biggest victims of a broader slowdown in the number of employers seeking new staff, data from Adzuna shows.
"A woman has been raped outside a church in Oxford by a group of men, police have said.
The woman, who is in her 30s, was attacked in the churchyard of St Mary's and the surrounding area of Banbury town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning, Thames Valley Police said."
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers. The trend in graduate hiring is particularly bleak, with advertised vacancies down 8% to 14,162 in August, 8% below the previous month and more than a third lower than this time last year.
Healthcare workers and teachers have also emerged as among the biggest victims of a broader slowdown in the number of employers seeking new staff, data from Adzuna shows.
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers. The trend in graduate hiring is particularly bleak, with advertised vacancies down 8% to 14,162 in August, 8% below the previous month and more than a third lower than this time last year.
Healthcare workers and teachers have also emerged as among the biggest victims of a broader slowdown in the number of employers seeking new staff, data from Adzuna shows.
Hadn't heard the word Autist before. And now that's twice in one day. Clearly MAGA and their bots and shills have nowt better to do than push new spectacularly unimpressive terms. (Other than watch trans porn and project natch).
It is not a well regarded term among autistic people, particularly in the context it was used here.
Don't panic, Leon is from Herefordshire. Two thirds of his school friends (OK, people he knew at school) would have been closely related to each other.
If you don't believe me, Fred West was a proud Ledburian.
Hadn't heard the word Autist before. And now that's twice in one day. Clearly MAGA and their bots and shills have nowt better to do than push new spectacularly unimpressive terms. (Other than watch trans porn and project natch).
It is not a well regarded term among autistic people, particularly in the context it was used here.
What's the disparaging word for AuDHDers? Or is that still impossible and made up?
Hadn't heard the word Autist before. And now that's twice in one day. Clearly MAGA and their bots and shills have nowt better to do than push new spectacularly unimpressive terms. (Other than watch trans porn and project natch).
It is not a well regarded term among autistic people, particularly in the context it was used here.
What's the disparaging word for AuDHDers? Or is that still impossible and made up?
Our family's issue is not with ADHD, so I don't know much about the lingua-franca of the ADHD world. Autist and aspie seem to be exclusively used by Leon these days and all his "autistic" friends. I've been involved with autistic charities for twenty years and I have only come across the terms on PB.
Some of the people who complain about smoking bans, COVID lockdowns, having to wear a mask, or vaccine mandates are very keen on the idea of bringing the law into this particular public health matter.
The children of first cousin marriage are more likely to have birth defects.
The children of older mothers and fathers are more likely to have birth defects. The mother being over 40 is, roughly, I think, going to be a greater risk than a mum in her twenties who has married her cousin. (They’re not directly comparable, because there are somewhat different sorts of problems involved.) So what’s the appropriate response in terms of legislation or public health advice?
I suggest we should start with education, make sure people are aware of the risks and can make informed choices. I don’t think we should be rushing to legislate about people’s reproductive choices.
...I don’t think we should be rushing to legislate about people’s reproductive choices.
It's a question of thresholds. I assume you are against sibling or parent-child marriages, because it's incest. I assume you are in favour of unrelated marriages. A line will be drawn somewhere: the question is where.
The children of first cousin marriage are more likely to have birth defects.
The children of older mothers and fathers are more likely to have birth defects. The mother being over 40 is, roughly, I think, going to be a greater risk than a mum in her twenties who has married her cousin. (They’re not directly comparable, because there are somewhat different sorts of problems involved.) So what’s the appropriate response in terms of legislation or public health advice?
I suggest we should start with education, make sure people are aware of the risks and can make informed choices. I don’t think we should be rushing to legislate about people’s reproductive choices.
Isn't this problem a tad more complicated than just looking at the straight up risk rate for 1st cousin marriages?
My impression is that occasional 1st cousin marriages aren't too problematic - it's when it happens repeatedly within the same fairly small family group it goes wrong, because genetically the cousins start get more and more like siblings.
Thus in a UK context we used to permit 1st cousin marriages because there weren't very many of them, and even fewer repeated across the generations. We've now (ie over the last 50 years) imported a significant group of people from a culture of repeated cousin marriage, who therefore are suffering from noticeably elevated rates of birth defects. Thus whilst 100 years ago there was no reason in a UK context to ban cousin marriage, there is extremely good reason to do so now.
More problematic is enforcement of a ban - how do you stop people from these cultures disappearing off "home" for a couple of weeks, and reappearing with a marriage certificate, which we then have to recognise as valid, even if we wouldn't permit the marriage. (Eg we currently will recognise a 14 year old as legally married if they can prove they were ligitimately married in a jurisdiction which permits this - although I don't think this overrides ours laws on statutory rape, thus in theory you can be legally married and it also be illegal to have sex with your consenting partner!).
A victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal who was temporarily paralysed after the stress of her ordeal has been offered 15% of her compensation claim.
Janet Skinner was wrongly convicted of false accounting in 2007 and sentenced to nine months in prison after the faulty software said £59,000 had gone missing from her branch account in Hull.
She has now received an offer of full financial redress - but it is a fraction of what she had claimed. "I cried and I cried… it's trauma on top of trauma," she told the BBC.
The government said it made every effort to make full and fair offers to all claimants.
But according to Ms Skinner's lawyer, all the high-value complex claims are being fought "tooth and nail".
"They've taken a particularly cruel approach to Janet's case," claims Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.
A victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal who was temporarily paralysed after the stress of her ordeal has been offered 15% of her compensation claim.
Janet Skinner was wrongly convicted of false accounting in 2007 and sentenced to nine months in prison after the faulty software said £59,000 had gone missing from her branch account in Hull.
She has now received an offer of full financial redress - but it is a fraction of what she had claimed. "I cried and I cried… it's trauma on top of trauma," she told the BBC.
The government said it made every effort to make full and fair offers to all claimants.
But according to Ms Skinner's lawyer, all the high-value complex claims are being fought "tooth and nail".
"They've taken a particularly cruel approach to Janet's case," claims Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.
The children of first cousin marriage are more likely to have birth defects.
The children of older mothers and fathers are more likely to have birth defects. The mother being over 40 is, roughly, I think, going to be a greater risk than a mum in her twenties who has married her cousin. (They’re not directly comparable, because there are somewhat different sorts of problems involved.) So what’s the appropriate response in terms of legislation or public health advice?
I suggest we should start with education, make sure people are aware of the risks and can make informed choices. I don’t think we should be rushing to legislate about people’s reproductive choices.
Isn't this problem a tad more complicated than just looking at the straight up risk rate for 1st cousin marriages?
My impression is that occasional 1st cousin marriages aren't too problematic - it's when it happens repeatedly within the same fairly small family group it goes wrong, because genetically the cousins start get more and more like siblings.
Thus in a UK context we used to permit 1st cousin marriages because there weren't very many of them, and even fewer repeated across the generations. We've now (ie over the last 50 years) imported a significant group of people from a culture of repeated cousin marriage, who therefore are suffering from noticeably elevated rates of birth defects. Thus whilst 100 years ago there was no reason in a UK context to ban cousin marriage, there is extremely good reason to do so now.
More problematic is enforcement of a ban - how do you stop people from these cultures disappearing off "home" for a couple of weeks, and reappearing with a marriage certificate, which we then have to recognise as valid, even if we wouldn't permit the marriage. (Eg we currently will recognise a 14 year old as legally married if they can prove they were ligitimately married in a jurisdiction which permits this - although I don't think this overrides ours laws on statutory rape, thus in theory you can be legally married and it also be illegal to have sex with your consenting partner!).
Not quite sure that anyone in government would put it quite like that!
They’ll all quite talk in general terms, perhaps with the odd joke about Norfolk, while totally failing to acknowledge that this is mostly a very specific problem regarding arranged marriages with third world countries, and that the UK government can and should seek to discourage this behaviour with a combination of education and immigration reforms.
Statements such as that from the NHS above go against a lot of empirical evidence, and are the total opposite of what public health authorities should be saying on the subject.
Moldovan elections look good for incumbent Maia Sandu and her PAS party, they should end up with a majority in Parliament after gaining 45% of the vote, with 90% counted.
But they can't claim benefits anyway. They are all NRPF* (non recourse to public funds). They can claim when they have ILR so not sure what changes they will be implementing.
* There are some exceptions relating to the ECHR but that's more to do with immigrants with children.
Moldovan elections look good for incumbent Maia Sandu and her PAS party, they should end up with a majority in Parliament after gaining 45% of the vote, with 90% counted.
But they can't claim benefits anyway. They are all NRPF* (non recourse to public funds). They can claim when they have ILR so not sure what changes they will be implementing.
* There are some exceptions relating to the ECHR but that's more to do with immigrants with children.
Are they not proposing to change the rules so the entitlement to state benefits comes with citizenship rather than ILR?
Which is what I thought it was anyway, as someone who has researched this a lot more than most. I suspect that a majority would have assumed this was the case.
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers. The trend in graduate hiring is particularly bleak, with advertised vacancies down 8% to 14,162 in August, 8% below the previous month and more than a third lower than this time last year.
Healthcare workers and teachers have also emerged as among the biggest victims of a broader slowdown in the number of employers seeking new staff, data from Adzuna shows.
Comments
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194
Pro Europe party in Moldova pulls ahead in election with decetnt gap between it and pro Russia party despite a massive alleged vote-buying scheme targeting activistis, journalists, influencers and even priests.
NEXT
Losers...
Now we get tasty...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_and_Truth_Platform#:~:text=The Dignity and Truth Platform,-Europeanism and anti-corruption.
You have not had the best evening wanting Trump's US to win then flippant comments about autism
That is all
Back to the Labour conference tomorrow
Goodnight 👍
No sport does drama like golf.
Keegan Bradley comes out with lots of credit as USA captain
Definite goodnight 👍👍
@KevinASchofield
Labour could do with having Alan Johnson back on the frontbench.
https://x.com/KevinASchofield/status/1972224575204372559
===
It'll never happen but yes.
If we do a list of Lab leaders who should have been but weren't then Johnson is high, very high, on that list.
https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campaigns/no2digitalid/#TAKEACTION
Justin Rose 6 years older than him lol.
Spencer Hakimian
@SpencerHakimian
·
8m
Law enforcement is now investigating a shooting in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/28/migrants-must-contribute-or-leave-uk-shabana-mahmood/
Young people could be stripped of benefits if they turn down job after 18 months
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/28/young-people-stripped-benefits-turn-down-job-18-months/
Spencer Hakimian
@SpencerHakimian
·
1h
The suspect in today’s Michigan church shooting.
40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford of Burton, Michigan, a U.S. Marine and veteran of the Iraq War.
https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1972396251233886232
==
Doesn't sound like lunatic radical left to me.
Amazingly, few know her name.
PM and chancellor give themselves option to increase taxes in budget to plug £30bn hole, saying only they ‘stand by’ commitments on working people
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-room-break-labour-manifesto-raise-taxes-r7zt83jkn
The media are jumping on Starmer non-denial, but I just can't see it flying. Most on the left will say straight away how regressive it is and doesn't actually hit the rich as much as you might think because the rich don't buy that much shit. Given all of that, I can't see Labour MPs going for it. And as Osborne found out, VAT is so inconsistent, it is a minefield if you are looking to tinker / target certain products.
https://eu.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/26/trans-porn-star-rips-gop-candidate-bill-berrien-for-his-hypocrisy/86352769007/
It's not often that a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate gets lectured by a trans porn star.
But GOP candidate Bill Berrien isn't running a campaign like anyone before him.
Berrien, the CEO of Pindel Global Precision, is campaigning as a conservative leader who stands up for family values. The MAGA wannabe candidate has been especially critical of transgender individuals, saying they are engaged in "radical social experimentation."
"Take it from a dad and a coach, I will keep boys out of our daughters' sports and locker rooms," the Whitefish Bay businessman says in a recent TV ad. A new ad praises President Donald Trump for "protecting our daughters' sports."
But the Journal Sentinel reported this week that his online footprint tells a different story...
Berrien just ended his campaign.
Asked if VAT would go up he said he stands by the manifesto.
Manifesto: VAT won't go up.
Somewhat tangentially, I was looking about for a Frank Zappa track tonight and came across this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fam5wRXcoQE
Zappa defines "Fascist Theocracy"
What they could do is widen the scope of VAT. Slap it on food.
Massively regressive but if you yack up the basic UC benefit levels then maybe not so??
It's simply a way of saying 'we need to put the tax up but it's our intention to reverse it out in 2030'
Fuck you Vlad.
I think one greedy bozo in Wales taking the shilling is not exactly a smoking gun
All I will say is this, and I have pointed to it before over the last couple of years, look at the donor base that now back Reform on top of some inidividuals in the party, and you might have something more substantial to go to the voters with.
After all, they couldn't be in his daughters' locker rooms if they were safely on the end of his cock
🔴 The NHS says first-cousin marriage is linked to “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”
https://x.com/telegraph/status/1972370778789196135?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw
And now that's twice in one day.
Clearly MAGA and their bots and shills have nowt better to do than push new spectacularly unimpressive terms.
(Other than watch trans porn and project natch).
In the nuclear family wealth cascades downwards, with grandchildren gradually inheriting from grandparents and setting up independent nuclear families of their own, like cells dividing: society grows. But with cousin marriages, wealth is diffused more indistinctly and clans begin to build up, with arguments resolved by elders and headstrong young men, and where you have clans you inevitably have clan warfare. Imagine a society where everybody behaves like they are members of a crime family. It's not a good solution to the problem of how people perpetuate themselves.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers. The trend in graduate hiring is particularly bleak, with advertised vacancies down 8% to 14,162 in August, 8% below the previous month and more than a third lower than this time last year.
Healthcare workers and teachers have also emerged as among the biggest victims of a broader slowdown in the number of employers seeking new staff, data from Adzuna shows.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/sep/29/uk-graduates-and-healthcare-workers-worst-hit-as-jobs-market-cools
Backs up what my contacts in the university sector have told me (and I posted on here about).
"A woman has been raped outside a church in Oxford by a group of men, police have said.
The woman, who is in her 30s, was attacked in the churchyard of St Mary's and the surrounding area of Banbury town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning, Thames Valley Police said."
https://news.sky.com/story/woman-raped-by-group-of-men-in-oxfordshire-churchyard-13440491
Reeves to guarantee paid work for young people unemployed for 18 months
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80gj2knrx4o
If you don't believe me, Fred West was a proud Ledburian.
Or is that still impossible and made up?
I suggest we should start with education, make sure people are aware of the risks and can make informed choices. I don’t think we should be rushing to legislate about people’s reproductive choices.
https://frasernelson.substack.com/p/who-thinks-reform-is-racist
According to Nelson and Margaret Hodge this is textbook way of how NOT to tackle a populist like Farage.
My impression is that occasional 1st cousin marriages aren't too problematic - it's when it happens repeatedly within the same fairly small family group it goes wrong, because genetically the cousins start get more and more like siblings.
Thus in a UK context we used to permit 1st cousin marriages because there weren't very many of them, and even fewer repeated across the generations. We've now (ie over the last 50 years) imported a significant group of people from a culture of repeated cousin marriage, who therefore are suffering from noticeably elevated rates of birth defects. Thus whilst 100 years ago there was no reason in a UK context to ban cousin marriage, there is extremely good reason to do so now.
More problematic is enforcement of a ban - how do you stop people from these cultures disappearing off "home" for a couple of weeks, and reappearing with a marriage certificate, which we then have to recognise as valid, even if we wouldn't permit the marriage. (Eg we currently will recognise a 14 year old as legally married if they can prove they were ligitimately married in a jurisdiction which permits this - although I don't think this overrides ours laws on statutory rape, thus in theory you can be legally married and it also be illegal to have sex with your consenting partner!).
Janet Skinner was wrongly convicted of false accounting in 2007 and sentenced to nine months in prison after the faulty software said £59,000 had gone missing from her branch account in Hull.
She has now received an offer of full financial redress - but it is a fraction of what she had claimed. "I cried and I cried… it's trauma on top of trauma," she told the BBC.
The government said it made every effort to make full and fair offers to all claimants.
But according to Ms Skinner's lawyer, all the high-value complex claims are being fought "tooth and nail".
"They've taken a particularly cruel approach to Janet's case," claims Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5jqxjqj0eo
https://frasernelson.com/data/
flagsgraphs...something for everybody.Today’s that day. ⛳️🏆
2007, that was 18 years ago.
The relevant minister really needs to make it quite clear that these claims will be expedited and paid in full.
They’ll all quite talk in general terms, perhaps with the odd joke about Norfolk, while totally failing to acknowledge that this is mostly a very specific problem regarding arranged marriages with third world countries, and that the UK government can and should seek to discourage this behaviour with a combination of education and immigration reforms.
Statements such as that from the NHS above go against a lot of empirical evidence, and are the total opposite of what public health authorities should be saying on the subject.
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1972411666659709357
In wider geopolitics this is good news for Ukraine and the EU, and bad news for Russia.
* There are some exceptions relating to the ECHR but that's more to do with immigrants with children.
Which is what I thought it was anyway, as someone who has researched this a lot more than most. I suspect that a majority would have assumed this was the case.
https://data.indeed.com/#/postings
Here is UK v US v Euro area. If you want to look at sectors by country, you'll be pleased to note that demand for therapists in the US is up by 80%