Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
I think Robert established that the kill with a spade comment referred to the dislikable neighbours ?
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
How surprised would anyone be if by the time this is finalised the company no longer has the means to repay the taxpayer and the money is safely in the accounts of its owners instead......
I can't believe you could even conceive of such a notion.
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
Yeah, I hear Harold Wilson, as part of his role as Soviet spy, got them there. They were dragged in from Avonmouth Docks behind the APT-E. All photos were then destroyed and bystanders' minds wiped by Wilson's KGB. The unions got to hear about it, which was why they blacklisted the APT-E. It was nothing to do with seats in the cab...
There’s no room for steam engines in Box tunnel. It’s full of Deltics waiting to save the day and fight off the evil class 37s.
The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.
I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
What would kill the issue absolutely stone dead for the Tories, would be Labour having a degree of success in reducing the numbers significantly.
Between that on one side, and the Reform ultras on the other, there would be no credible space to occupy, given their record in the previous government.
Net immigration now falling due to Sunak and Cleverly's tighter visa wage rules.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Yeah, I hear Harold Wilson, as part of his role as Soviet spy, got them there. They were dragged in from Avonmouth Docks behind the APT-E. All photos were then destroyed and bystanders' minds wiped by Wilson's KGB. The unions got to hear about it, which was why they blacklisted the APT-E. It was nothing to do with seats in the cab...
There’s no room for steam engines in Box tunnel. It’s full of Deltics waiting to save the day and fight off the evil class 37s.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
How surprised would anyone be if by the time this is finalised the company no longer has the means to repay the taxpayer and the money is safely in the accounts of its owners instead......
I can't believe you could even conceive of such a notion.
The stupid thing would been not setting up a separate company for this deal. One that owns only a large pile of debt.
That old classic - the builder who sets up a new company for every job. Alway check with Companies House - if they do that, run away.
Another is in shipping. Each ship is owned by a different company, mortgaged to the eyeballs. Each ship is then operated by another company, also heavily in debt. The crew are hired as contractors, by yet another company.
Yeah, I hear Harold Wilson, as part of his role as Soviet spy, got them there. They were dragged in from Avonmouth Docks behind the APT-E. All photos were then destroyed and bystanders' minds wiped by Wilson's KGB. The unions got to hear about it, which was why they blacklisted the APT-E. It was nothing to do with seats in the cab...
There’s no room for steam engines in Box tunnel. It’s full of Deltics waiting to save the day and fight off the evil class 37s.
BURN THEM !!!!! DESTROY THEM WITH FIRE !!!!
Funny thing about having a national steam reserve is that we do have one. All those preserved lines and their steam locos (plus numerous diesels) all over the country. No need to hide them in tunnels...
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
How surprised would anyone be if by the time this is finalised the company no longer has the means to repay the taxpayer and the money is safely in the accounts of its owners instead......
I can't believe you could even conceive of such a notion.
That would rather undercut her "supplied in good faith" defence, though.
Chasing (say) a Chinese supplier for potential malfeasance in supplying PPE during the pandemic would likely be a waste of time. Not sure that's the case here.
Morning all. Labours More in Common Bounce disintegrates as they siip to joint second with the Tories
Weekly voting intention - all fieldwork before Starmer speech - Reform lead back up to 10. Tories and Labour tie on 20%.
➡️ REF UK 30% (+2) 🌹 LAB 20% (-5) 🌳 CON 20% (nc) 🔶 LIB DEM 14% (+1) 🌍 GREEN 8% (nc) 🟡 SNP 3% (nc) ❓OTH 4% (+1)
N = 2,012 | 26-29/9 | Change w 22/9
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
Hmm. Labour have to be a bit careful with the hair splitting here. The nuance will get lost in the fog of war.
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist 2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though. 3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
The upshot of all this is an unknown, but it shifts the scenery a bit.
It depends on whether Labour can successfully land on Reform the claim that they intend to put at serious risk of deportation the foreign nationals with visas/ILR/settled status that are our friends, neighbours, my eye specialist, half the NHS etc.
If they can, Reform are in trouble.
It also depends how people translate 'Reform policies are racist'. If that it taken to mean 'Reform intend to deport a lot of people who are one or more of: illegals, criminals, overstayers, culturally extremely different from what we think is the UK norm, wasters, benefit frauds, then several million people will quietly say 'Fine. with me'. And Labour are in trouble.
It's wonderfully unknowable. Both Labour and Reform are going to be engaged in a long bout of tortured dog whistling in which mistakes will get punished. What counts as a mistake will sometimes only become clear after the event.
It won't be dull.
Score from yesterday: Farage to a notable extent came across as someone who can dish it out but not take it.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
It really wasn’t a serious suggestion, I hoped that the idea of them being left on posts as a warning to other badgers signalled the silliness of it.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
We could do with a new political glossary, omitting 'left' and 'right' altogether. Currently for example 'left' does no justice to Labour people who have no intention whatever of shifting from the dominance of global capitalism as the basic working model of wealth production even though they don't say so. 'Right' does no justice to social conservatives who take for granted the gigantic cradle to grave state (like most Reform voters).
The Mormon faith has always seemed to me somewhat strange. But they are often also quite admirable.
This morning with our burned down church still smoldering and four saints murdered, members of the Church of Jesus Christ raised $60k for...checks notes...the shooter's wife and children... https://x.com/DerekjAndersen/status/1973130297739977080
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Before all the badgers were culled here in south Devon, the field behind our house would get as much as a third of the turf turned over. Hell of a mess.
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Before all the badgers were culled here in south Devon, the field behind our house would get as much as a third of the turf turned over. Hell of a mess.
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
Bastard badgers. There's a pair of tracks down the length of our back garden where they use it to run between houses and the woods. And I have several holes dug by the bastards.
Mixed bag of local by-elections tomorrow. We have a Lab defence in Cheshire West and Chester and another one in Wigan. There is a Con defence in Brentwood and a Ref defence in Isle of Wight. Finally we have an odd case in Maidstone - 3 Ind defences in one ward..
The Mormon faith has always seemed to me somewhat strange. But they are often also quite admirable.
This morning with our burned down church still smoldering and four saints murdered, members of the Church of Jesus Christ raised $60k for...checks notes...the shooter's wife and children... https://x.com/DerekjAndersen/status/1973130297739977080
Same reason that Charlie Kirk’s widow says that she forgives her husband’s murderer. Faith.
The wife and children in this case did nothing wrong.
The Mormon faith has always seemed to me somewhat strange. But they are often also quite admirable.
This morning with our burned down church still smoldering and four saints murdered, members of the Church of Jesus Christ raised $60k for...checks notes...the shooter's wife and children... https://x.com/DerekjAndersen/status/1973130297739977080
Same reason that Charlie Kirk’s widow says that she forgives her husband’s murderer. Faith.
The wife and children in this case did nothing wrong.
Be more like the Mormons and Mrs Kirk.
There are plenty of people with faith who will never show forgiveness; and plenty of people without faith who show forgiveness.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Before all the badgers were culled here in south Devon, the field behind our house would get as much as a third of the turf turned over. Hell of a mess.
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
Bastard badgers. There's a pair of tracks down the length of our back garden where they use it to run between houses and the woods. And I have several holes dug by the bastards.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
I doubt if many opinionated adults would survive the scrutiny well if everything they thought and said and did at school were unearthed, exaggerated and published.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
I doubt if many opinionated adults would survive the scrutiny well if everything they thought and said and did at school were unearthed, exaggerated and published.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
At one bank, we amused ourselves at an interview by asking mocking questions about the social media posts of the candidate.
Who, a few months earlier, had been advocating violence against the “Banksters”,
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
It really wasn’t a serious suggestion, I hoped that the idea of them being left on posts as a warning to other badgers signalled the silliness of it.
People do kill badgers though. My very first job involved advising on wildlife law.
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
People I know through work in the financial sector think I'm a communist. Family and friends think I am horrendously rightwing. I'm quite left/liberal on social issues but a bit drier on economics. I don't think governments can fix everything, I don't want excessive regulation or taxation, I do think the welfare system can blunt incentives to work, I think it's important to keep the bond market on side. Equally I think that rich people like me need to pay a decent amount of tax and shouldn't complain about it. I also think it's the government's job to prevent privilege becoming too entrenched. I'm not sure my views have changed much big picture but have probably become more nuanced in the details over time as I've learned more about what a complicated place the world is.
Morning all. Labours More in Common Bounce disintegrates as they siip to joint second with the Tories
Weekly voting intention - all fieldwork before Starmer speech - Reform lead back up to 10. Tories and Labour tie on 20%.
➡️ REF UK 30% (+2) 🌹 LAB 20% (-5) 🌳 CON 20% (nc) 🔶 LIB DEM 14% (+1) 🌍 GREEN 8% (nc) 🟡 SNP 3% (nc) ❓OTH 4% (+1)
N = 2,012 | 26-29/9 | Change w 22/9
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
Hmm. Labour have to be a bit careful with the hair splitting here. The nuance will get lost in the fog of war.
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist 2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though. 3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
The upshot of all this is an unknown, but it shifts the scenery a bit.
It depends on whether Labour can successfully land on Reform the claim that they intend to put at serious risk of deportation the foreign nationals with visas/ILR/settled status that are our friends, neighbours, my eye specialist, half the NHS etc.
If they can, Reform are in trouble.
It also depends how people translate 'Reform policies are racist'. If that it taken to mean 'Reform intend to deport a lot of people who are one or more of: illegals, criminals, overstayers, culturally extremely different from what we think is the UK norm, wasters, benefit frauds, then several million people will quietly say 'Fine. with me'. And Labour are in trouble.
It's wonderfully unknowable. Both Labour and Reform are going to be engaged in a long bout of tortured dog whistling in which mistakes will get punished. What counts as a mistake will sometimes only become clear after the event.
It won't be dull.
Score from yesterday: Farage to a notable extent came across as someone who can dish it out but not take it.
Yes, I would hesitantly* call it a game changer. As for how it will change things, it remains to be seen.
*I say “hesitantly” because Labour’s message discipline needs to be consistent for this to have any joy at filtering through (for better or for worse) and their message discipline has typically been utterly shocking.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
It really wasn’t a serious suggestion, I hoped that the idea of them being left on posts as a warning to other badgers signalled the silliness of it.
People do kill badgers though. My very first job involved advising on wildlife law.
Before the cull, lots of badgers were shot - and left as "roadkill".
The loss of the badgers has been great news for hedgehogs though.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Before all the badgers were culled here in south Devon, the field behind our house would get as much as a third of the turf turned over. Hell of a mess.
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
I remember talking to a grumpy farmer/developer near Evesham a couple of years ago who was just over the Gloucestershire border. He was not allowed to continue his development project due to badger sets. He was complaining that if he lived a couple of miles down the road in Worcestershire he could cull them.
Years ago I was doing work at the Federal Mogul plant in Coleford which had been sold for redevelopment. The developer through his aggressive personal rudeness really pissed off my contact at Federal Mogul who was clearing the plant after the sale. My contact found some bats in the eves of one of the buildings, so he got his revenge by tipping off the Environment Agency and Forest of Dean Council. It caused no end of delay for the developer, who thought f*** the bats and demolished regardless. Then all Hell was let loose...
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
It really wasn’t a serious suggestion, I hoped that the idea of them being left on posts as a warning to other badgers signalled the silliness of it.
People do kill badgers though. My very first job involved advising on wildlife law.
I am in reality someone who tries to avoid killing ants yet alone badgers.
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
To be fair to Lowe he does seem to believe in putting your money where yar mouth is. Which despite his politics, I think is great.
No he’s using it as a monthly look at how generous I am supporting this charity which is clearly something some people take exception to - I can see why some charities won’t want to be part of his campaigning
Useless fact: thinking about visiting St Andrews tomorrow for the first time since 2020 (when people were being denied entry to the botanical gardens because of covid-19 lockdown measures). Apparently 20% of the students at the university are Americans.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?
"Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”
One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.
I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"
Which we then discussed. : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.
She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
I think that as one gets older the difficulty of classifying people as simply left or right wing becomes more obvious. It's tempting for newspaper articles but like you most of us have simply become more nuanced. Nonetheless, people over 60 have more often accumulated wealth than the young, and that tends to make them less keen on redistribution.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
I get the impression a lot of people are economically left-wing and rather populist on social issues. When they walk into the polling station I suppose they have to decide whether economic or social issues are more important for them at that time.
Russell Scott who has written VIP Cronyism about the PPE scandal doesn't believe very many more than Michelle and Dougie will be called to account, certainly not the politicians involved.
Useless fact: thinking about visiting St Andrews tomorrow for the first time since 2020 (when people were being denied entry to the botanical gardens because of covid-19 lockdown measures). Apparently 20% of the students at the university are Americans.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
They dislike the smell of male urine, citronella and chilli peppers
Morning all. Labours More in Common Bounce disintegrates as they siip to joint second with the Tories
Weekly voting intention - all fieldwork before Starmer speech - Reform lead back up to 10. Tories and Labour tie on 20%.
➡️ REF UK 30% (+2) 🌹 LAB 20% (-5) 🌳 CON 20% (nc) 🔶 LIB DEM 14% (+1) 🌍 GREEN 8% (nc) 🟡 SNP 3% (nc) ❓OTH 4% (+1)
N = 2,012 | 26-29/9 | Change w 22/9
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
Hmm. Labour have to be a bit careful with the hair splitting here. The nuance will get lost in the fog of war.
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist 2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though. 3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
The upshot of all this is an unknown, but it shifts the scenery a bit.
It depends on whether Labour can successfully land on Reform the claim that they intend to put at serious risk of deportation the foreign nationals with visas/ILR/settled status that are our friends, neighbours, my eye specialist, half the NHS etc.
If they can, Reform are in trouble.
It also depends how people translate 'Reform policies are racist'. If that it taken to mean 'Reform intend to deport a lot of people who are one or more of: illegals, criminals, overstayers, culturally extremely different from what we think is the UK norm, wasters, benefit frauds, then several million people will quietly say 'Fine. with me'. And Labour are in trouble.
It's wonderfully unknowable. Both Labour and Reform are going to be engaged in a long bout of tortured dog whistling in which mistakes will get punished. What counts as a mistake will sometimes only become clear after the event.
It won't be dull.
Score from yesterday: Farage to a notable extent came across as someone who can dish it out but not take it.
I for one am amazed that you’ve concluded “this thing I’ve noticed is not good for Reform”. Your neutral insight is invaluable
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
Italians down here no longer dress well. In the past the city was dangerous but the men very stylish. Now the city is much safer but the men are slobs. Same crap clothes as everywhere - hoodies and jeans (cheap), naff branded sportswear, plastic shoes
What’s happened to the bella figura?
The best dressed people in Naples are girls from east Asia - Chinese, Japanese, Korean
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
Another thing – am I the only PBer who would not recognise a Hitler Youth song? Wouldn't they be in German?
Please don't send me links to such songs. Remember it is *your* search history that will be linked to your Digital ID card.
Henning Wehn used to do that as a trick...he would come on to this rousing music and encourage the audience to clap along and really get into the music as if you were listening to some sort of classic German folk song....and then cut the music and say can't beat the classics....from the Hitler Youth.
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
To be fair to Lowe he does seem to believe in putting your money where yar mouth is. Which despite his politics, I think is great.
No he’s using it as a monthly look at how generous I am supporting this charity which is clearly something some people take exception to - I can see why some charities won’t want to be part of his campaigning
Yes, how many people would object to a charity knocking back a donation from Tommy Robinson* (who is just Lowe in Stone Island)?
*this is entirely an exercise in the imagination as the grifting little holiday-taker is as likely to make a charitable donation as read Keats.
Russell Scott who has written VIP Cronyism about the PPE scandal doesn't believe very many more than Michelle and Dougie will be called to account, certainly not the politicians involved.
Luvvly Jubbly.
We should not forget Lord Wossname who resigned from the government because nothing was being done about fraud.
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
And converge in some cases, like in ultra-marathons where women sometimes outpace men. What you really need however is 16-year old COD players with insane reflexes for drone-on-drone warfare.
Italians down here no longer dress well. In the past the city was dangerous but the men very stylish. Now the city is much safer but the men are slobs. Same crap clothes as everywhere - hoodies and jeans (cheap), naff branded sportswear, plastic shoes
What’s happened to the bella figura?
The best dressed people in Naples are girls from east Asia - Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Is there anywhere in the western world where men under 60 don't dress like slobs?
Have you been in the funicular? I went up to the highest point and then walked down the steps with the view of the bay. One of the best things I did there.
Ukraine sent 230 drones into Russia - including 6 HIMARS - expecting them all to be taken down. Russia was cheering its success - unawre they were decoys to allow a further 6 HIMARS missiles through to take out the Belgorod thermal power station. A brilliant operation by the Ukrainians that blinded the Russians - and causing the railways to be shut down and crash their supply lines.
Pro-tip: you can save a lot of time in museums by heading straight for the gift shop, where all their best exhibits will be collated and available for purchase in postcard or replica form.
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
It’s also rarely the running that limits larger numbers of women in infantry roles, it’s the running with the same amount of kit that the men have to run with. The kit as a percentage of the carrier’s body weight is less likely to be disproportionate on men and there cannot be a situation where women soldiers are carrying less kit, it’s all necessary, or having only the men in a platoon carrying certain items as it reduces the capability.
If a Anybody-But-Reform (ABR) vote emerges, then tactical voting will not necessarily/just be good for Labour, it will also good for other parties. Would this lead to a more-likely hung parliament?
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
I doubt if many opinionated adults would survive the scrutiny well if everything they thought and said and did at school were unearthed, exaggerated and published.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
At one bank, we amused ourselves at an interview by asking mocking questions about the social media posts of the candidate.
Who, a few months earlier, had been advocating violence against the “Banksters”,
Italians down here no longer dress well. In the past the city was dangerous but the men very stylish. Now the city is much safer but the men are slobs. Same crap clothes as everywhere - hoodies and jeans (cheap), naff branded sportswear, plastic shoes
What’s happened to the bella figura?
The best dressed people in Naples are girls from east Asia - Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Naples was never the Milan of the South. Is this your first visit to Naples? I stay in the Belair in Sorrento and Parkers in Naples. Dressing up for dinner is a requirement for both.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
I doubt if many opinionated adults would survive the scrutiny well if everything they thought and said and did at school were unearthed, exaggerated and published.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
At one bank, we amused ourselves at an interview by asking mocking questions about the social media posts of the candidate.
Who, a few months earlier, had been advocating violence against the “Banksters”,
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
It’s also rarely the running that limits larger numbers of women in infantry roles, it’s the running with the same amount of kit that the men have to run with. The kit as a percentage of the carrier’s body weight is less likely to be disproportionate on men and there cannot be a situation where women soldiers are carrying less kit, it’s all necessary, or having only the men in a platoon carrying certain items as it reduces the capability.
Rather ignores the fact that a very large number of roles in modern warfare don't involve much running or pack carrying.
And completely ignores the very large number of issues of more importance to building efficient and capable armed forces.
But I suppose it's of a piece with their 'return to the coal age' crap.
If a Anybody-But-Reform (ABR) vote emerges, then tactical voting will not necessarily/just be good for Labour, it will also good for other parties. Would this lead to a more-likely hung parliament?
In the vast majority of constituencies it will be Labour unless the Lib Dems or Greens start polling over 20. Their voters are tightly concentrated in a way that Labour's aren't.
Italians down here no longer dress well. In the past the city was dangerous but the men very stylish. Now the city is much safer but the men are slobs. Same crap clothes as everywhere - hoodies and jeans (cheap), naff branded sportswear, plastic shoes
What’s happened to the bella figura?
The best dressed people in Naples are girls from east Asia - Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Naples was never the Milan of the South. Is this your first visit to Naples? I stay in the Belair in Sorrento and Parkers in Naples. Dressing up for dinner is a requirement for both.
I’vs been half a dozen times. Naples was never Milan but nonetheless it was Italy. Fifteen years ago I’d say 1 in 5 men made a real effort. Jacket and shirt, pressed strides, pricey shoes - or absurdly fashionable extravagance
Now it’s more like 1 in 50. They’ve all got fatter as well (like everyone else)
Noticed the same in Sardinia last week but there I wasn’t so sure as I don’t know Sardinia well. I do know Naples well. Now confirmed
The dangers of policy polling.... They already have a govt right to work eligibility check service, they should just have quietly rolled that out as a "digital NI number" to everyone then gradually joined it up to the other services. The moment they called it an ID card they'd lost
Phew, I think we got away with it. Other than in the headlines WATO avoids the PPE scandal. I have long contended that WATO is too Westminster centric and today they have focused on Russian drone attacks on Denmark, so I can't really complain.
Oh wait, I apologise "Conservative Peer Michelle Mone contacted Michael Gove and Lord Agnew... PPE Medpro filed for administration yesterday"
Russell Scott who has written VIP Cronyism about the PPE scandal doesn't believe very many more than Michelle and Dougie will be called to account, certainly not the politicians involved.
Luvvly Jubbly.
Michelle and Dougie have definitely been lined up to be sacrificed, and who would object, but the ITV doc 2 weeks ago named a lot more people.
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
It’s also rarely the running that limits larger numbers of women in infantry roles, it’s the running with the same amount of kit that the men have to run with. The kit as a percentage of the carrier’s body weight is less likely to be disproportionate on men and there cannot be a situation where women soldiers are carrying less kit, it’s all necessary, or having only the men in a platoon carrying certain items as it reduces the capability.
Rather ignores the fact that a very large number of roles in modern warfare don't involve much running or pack carrying.
And completely ignores the very large number of issues of more importance to building efficient and capable armed forces.
But I suppose it's of a piece with their 'return to the coal age' crap.
A girl in my year at school joined the army at 18. She became a bomb disposal officer, and AIUI was the first female bomb disposal officer to reach a certain rank.
I dare anyone to say she did not serve the country as well as any man could have.
The messaging was poor to begin with and when the PM is so unpopular you have a toxic combination.
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
That poll is a death warrant for Starmer’s career. If a popular policy craters on presentation, simply because the abhorred PM announces it, then a government is effectively paralysed. It cannot announce anything
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
What people like Hegseth don't understand is male and female physical capabilities are both distribution curves of some description - with the male curve further to the right of the female one.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
It’s also rarely the running that limits larger numbers of women in infantry roles, it’s the running with the same amount of kit that the men have to run with. The kit as a percentage of the carrier’s body weight is less likely to be disproportionate on men and there cannot be a situation where women soldiers are carrying less kit, it’s all necessary, or having only the men in a platoon carrying certain items as it reduces the capability.
Rather ignores the fact that a very large number of roles in modern warfare don't involve much running or pack carrying.
And completely ignores the very large number of issues of more importance to building efficient and capable armed forces.
But I suppose it's of a piece with their 'return to the coal age' crap.
That’s why I referred specifically to Infantry roles - still vital in war as we see in Ukraine. Am not agreeing with Hegseth’s mindset but was replying to the post regarding running limiting female numbers in the military.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
Phew, I think we got away with it. Other than in the headlines WATO avoids the PPE scandal. I have long contended that WATO is too Westminster centric and today they have focused on Russian drone attacks on Denmark, so I can't really complain.
Oh wait, I apologise "Conservative Peer Michelle Mone contacted Michael Gove and Lord Agnew... PPE Medpro filed for administration yesterday"
Don't the courts release the draft decision the day before so that the parties and their briefs can check and resolve any legal error/misunderstanding? So PPE Medpro would likely have known the result and bolted for the door ASAP. What that does to Mone's and Barrowman's reputation is moot as they might not agree with the decision, even if they want to appeal it. Costs will be interesting as can't see the briefs swallowing the costs.
The messaging was poor to begin with and when the PM is so unpopular you have a toxic combination.
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
That poll is a death warrant for Starmer’s career. If a popular policy craters on presentation, simply because the abhorred PM announces it, then a government is effectively paralysed. It cannot announce anything
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
Do Labour have anybody that is better regarded - to the point where they could have got support for ID cards?
Nope.
Not only was Labour's electoral support a mile wide but an inch deep, their talent pool was an inch wide and an inch deep.
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
We are verging into otter's pocket territory here, or Crick is.
I'm interested to know if the songs were sung in German or as English translations. Seems relevant. If the former then he was surely merely practising his German skills...
Russell Scott who has written VIP Cronyism about the PPE scandal doesn't believe very many more than Michelle and Dougie will be called to account, certainly not the politicians involved.
Luvvly Jubbly.
Michelle and Dougie have definitely been lined up to be sacrificed, and who would object, but the ITV doc 2 weeks ago named a lot more people.
Apols, I see that the ITV doc is based on Russell Scott's book.
Ukraine sent 230 drones into Russia - including 6 HIMARS - expecting them all to be taken down. Russia was cheering its success - unawre they were decoys to allow a further 6 HIMARS missiles through to take out the Belgorod thermal power station. A brilliant operation by the Ukrainians that blinded the Russians - and causing the railways to be shut down and crash their supply lines.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
PPE MedPro's last accounts, to July 2025 (quite quick with the filing there - oh, now I see why) reports only net assets of some £666k (six hundred and sixty six thousand pounds).
They have included a contigent liability note, but it is clear the company has no ability to repay this. Therefore, corporate lawyers?... unless the directors or shareholders can be held personally liable (highly unlikely, that's the whole point of limited liability) there is no chance of getting more than a token payment from this company.
The messaging was poor to begin with and when the PM is so unpopular you have a toxic combination.
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
That poll is a death warrant for Starmer’s career. If a popular policy craters on presentation, simply because the abhorred PM announces it, then a government is effectively paralysed. It cannot announce anything
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
Do Labour have anybody that is better regarded - to the point where they could have got support for ID cards?
Nope.
Not only was Labour's electoral support a mile wide but an inch deep, their talent pool was an inch wide and an inch deep.
Good point
Still, Labour have no choice. Starmer has to quit because he can no longer govern. Anything he announces turns to ashes
They’d be better off with an inane person like Cooper. At least she doesn’t immediately make you want to puke as you cringe
The Starmer anti-Midas touch raises another issue. Is it not possible his attacks on Farage and Reform will - for this reason - actually boost Farage and Reform?
This morning’s grandstanding at Quantico only solidified what we already know: @PeteHegseth continues to disparage and lie about women in the military.
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period... https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
The messaging was poor to begin with and when the PM is so unpopular you have a toxic combination.
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
That poll is a death warrant for Starmer’s career. If a popular policy craters on presentation, simply because the abhorred PM announces it, then a government is effectively paralysed. It cannot announce anything
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
Do Labour have anybody that is better regarded - to the point where they could have got support for ID cards?
Nope.
Not only was Labour's electoral support a mile wide but an inch deep, their talent pool was an inch wide and an inch deep.
Good point
Still, Labour have no choice. Starmer has to quit because he can no longer govern. Anything he announces turns to ashes
They’d be better off with an inane person like Cooper. At least she doesn’t immediately make you want to puke as you cringe
The Starmer anti-Midas touch raises another issue. Is it not possible his attacks on Farage and Reform will - for this reason - actually boost Farage and Reform?
There is no alternative to Starmer though and if he doesn't want to resign there's no feasible way to remove him as a sitting PM. Labour don't have the same lax rules in dethroning a leader like the Tories. Starmer is here until he decides he's had enough or voters decide they've had enough.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
PPE MedPro's last accounts, to July 2025 (quite quick with the filing there - oh, now I see why) reports only net assets of some £666k (six hundred and sixty six thousand pounds).
They have included a contigent liability note, but it is clear the company has no ability to repay this. Therefore, corporate lawyers?... unless the directors or shareholders can be held personally liable (highly unlikely, that's the whole point of limited liability) there is no chance of getting more than a token payment from this company.
The woman took the profits, she should stand the losses
Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.
Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
I apologise for my unintended fake news. But on the other hand your defence of Farage using Crick's confirmation is piss poor.
It's clearly time to do a deep dive into Dulwich College's Farage portfolio. Crick used to be good at that sort of thing. The ghastly man has had a free ride but I suspect that now Starmer and Labour have rediscovered their backbone and they've given up on their anti semitism nonsense they can now take the gloves off.
I doubt if many opinionated adults would survive the scrutiny well if everything they thought and said and did at school were unearthed, exaggerated and published.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
At one bank, we amused ourselves at an interview by asking mocking questions about the social media posts of the candidate.
Who, a few months earlier, had been advocating violence against the “Banksters”,
How well did they deal with it ?
Not well. Lots of silences and “ummmmmms”
Disappointing; I was hoping for a smart and feisty rejoinder. Poor interview prep.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
PPE MedPro's last accounts, to July 2025 (quite quick with the filing there - oh, now I see why) reports only net assets of some £666k (six hundred and sixty six thousand pounds).
They have included a contigent liability note, but it is clear the company has no ability to repay this. Therefore, corporate lawyers?... unless the directors or shareholders can be held personally liable (highly unlikely, that's the whole point of limited liability) there is no chance of getting more than a token payment from this company.
There are a number of potential options. If the company has been trading whilst insolvent the directors can become personally liable. Ditto if there has been "wrongful trading" which might be a better option. If the liability has been incurred by the company as a result of breaches of fiduciary duty by a director (eg the director knew that the goods supplied were not conform but proceeded anyway) then the liquidator may have a claim for the liabilities incurred. There may be some insurance.
None of these are straightforward (except insurance) but given the sums and the political profile I think the government may well be minded to pursue one or more of them.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
PPE MedPro's last accounts, to July 2025 (quite quick with the filing there - oh, now I see why) reports only net assets of some £666k (six hundred and sixty six thousand pounds).
They have included a contigent liability note, but it is clear the company has no ability to repay this. Therefore, corporate lawyers?... unless the directors or shareholders can be held personally liable (highly unlikely, that's the whole point of limited liability) there is no chance of getting more than a token payment from this company.
There are a number of potential options. If the company has been trading whilst insolvent the directors can become personally liable. Ditto if there has been "wrongful trading" which might be a better option. If the liability has been incurred by the company as a result of breaches of fiduciary duty by a director (eg the director knew that the goods supplied were not conform but proceeded anyway) then the liquidator may have a claim for the liabilities incurred. There may be some insurance.
None of these are straightforward (except insurance) but given the sums and the political profile I think the government may well be minded to pursue one or more of them.
Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.
Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
Ha. We have exactly the same issue. Some mornings the lawn looks like a WW1 battlefield.
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
Before all the badgers were culled here in south Devon, the field behind our house would get as much as a third of the turf turned over. Hell of a mess.
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
I remember talking to a grumpy farmer/developer near Evesham a couple of years ago who was just over the Gloucestershire border. He was not allowed to continue his development project due to badger sets. He was complaining that if he lived a couple of miles down the road in Worcestershire he could cull them.
Years ago I was doing work at the Federal Mogul plant in Coleford which had been sold for redevelopment. The developer through his aggressive personal rudeness really pissed off my contact at Federal Mogul who was clearing the plant after the sale. My contact found some bats in the eves of one of the buildings, so he got his revenge by tipping off the Environment Agency and Forest of Dean Council. It caused no end of delay for the developer, who thought f*** the bats and demolished regardless. Then all Hell was let loose...
I have a great friend in Lancashire who's wife owned a field next to their house.
So their children grew up playing in it in the 1980s, and .. moving newts between the different ponds in the other fields.
So when they came to self-build on it in around 2013 or so, they had to build newt fences to keep them out, and all the other stuff.
(Whoever it is in the above thread can probably manage the Roe Deer by shooting and eating, which is a Good Thing To Do - but you need to know that you do not have overly-squeamish neighbours.)
But he's German, and he approves conserving nature-at-risk, so they followed the rules.
The messaging was poor to begin with and when the PM is so unpopular you have a toxic combination.
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
That poll is a death warrant for Starmer’s career. If a popular policy craters on presentation, simply because the abhorred PM announces it, then a government is effectively paralysed. It cannot announce anything
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
Do Labour have anybody that is better regarded - to the point where they could have got support for ID cards?
Nope.
Not only was Labour's electoral support a mile wide but an inch deep, their talent pool was an inch wide and an inch deep.
Good point
Still, Labour have no choice. Starmer has to quit because he can no longer govern. Anything he announces turns to ashes
They’d be better off with an inane person like Cooper. At least she doesn’t immediately make you want to puke as you cringe
The Starmer anti-Midas touch raises another issue. Is it not possible his attacks on Farage and Reform will - for this reason - actually boost Farage and Reform?
There is no alternative to Starmer though and if he doesn't want to resign there's no feasible way to remove him as a sitting PM. Labour don't have the same lax rules in dethroning a leader like the Tories. Starmer is here until he decides he's had enough or voters decide they've had enough.
That’s true theoretically but not in actuality. If - for instance - the majority of his Cabinet go to him and express no confidence or threaten to resign, if he continues, then a PM will quit
The drone threat to the rest of Europe appears rather more serious than a couple of incursions.
NEW (Germany): Authorities say the drone incidents over Schleswig-Holstein were more serious than first thought. Swarms of drones deliberately flew over critical infrastructure including the Thyssenkrupp naval shipyard in Kiel, Kiel University Hospital, a power plant, the Kiel State Parliament, and the Heide refinery that supplies Hamburg Airport with kerosene.. https://x.com/InsiderGeo/status/1973312973155291319
I don't think anyone outside of Ukraine yet has even a partial capacity to prevent a determined attack.
Ukraine sent 230 drones into Russia - including 6 HIMARS - expecting them all to be taken down. Russia was cheering its success - unawre they were decoys to allow a further 6 HIMARS missiles through to take out the Belgorod thermal power station. A brilliant operation by the Ukrainians that blinded the Russians - and causing the railways to be shut down and crash their supply lines.
Did no-one at war school study previous wars (e.g. Bomber Command vs Germany)?
Somebody in Ukraine's high command has studied the hell out of the allied bomber campaign in the second world war and clearly learned all the right lessons.
Comments
He claimed the military needs to “return to the male standard” in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard. When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since. You can either do the job or you can’t. Period...
https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1973080569576624326
They are very determined, badgers. I keep thinking I have sealed off the garden (we already have a deer fence due to roe deer taking a liking to our plants) but they seem to find an alternative way in each time. The battle continues, but I wouldn't bet against the Brocks.
That old classic - the builder who sets up a new company for every job. Alway check with Companies House - if they do that, run away.
Another is in shipping. Each ship is owned by a different company, mortgaged to the eyeballs. Each ship is then operated by another company, also heavily in debt. The crew are hired as contractors, by yet another company.
Personally I think of myself as just as left-wing as always on economic grounds, but then I run into some new defining characteristic like attitude to gender differentiation (where I don't know what I think, really). Bottom line: beware of stereotyping people with a simple one-liner - it's not helpful beyond a first approximation.
Chasing (say) a Chinese supplier for potential malfeasance in supplying PPE during the pandemic would likely be a waste of time.
Not sure that's the case here.
It depends on whether Labour can successfully land on Reform the claim that they intend to put at serious risk of deportation the foreign nationals with visas/ILR/settled status that are our friends, neighbours, my eye specialist, half the NHS etc.
If they can, Reform are in trouble.
It also depends how people translate 'Reform policies are racist'. If that it taken to mean 'Reform intend to deport a lot of people who are one or more of: illegals, criminals, overstayers, culturally extremely different from what we think is the UK norm, wasters, benefit frauds, then several million people will quietly say 'Fine. with me'. And Labour are in trouble.
It's wonderfully unknowable. Both Labour and Reform are going to be engaged in a long bout of tortured dog whistling in which mistakes will get punished. What counts as a mistake will sometimes only become clear after the event.
It won't be dull.
Score from yesterday: Farage to a notable extent came across as someone who can dish it out but not take it.
I'm not.
Good use of the Drake meme
But they are often also quite admirable.
This morning with our burned down church still smoldering and four saints murdered, members of the Church of Jesus Christ raised $60k for...checks notes...the shooter's wife and children...
https://x.com/DerekjAndersen/status/1973130297739977080
I was told the thing to do is scatter peanuts over the surface. A BIG bag of peanuts. They will take them off the surface, rather than destroy the grass looking for stuff underneath.
The wife and children in this case did nothing wrong.
Be more like the Mormons and Mrs Kirk.
There was a time when it was routine for immature opinionated people in school to have ludicrous views in support of Stalin, Lenin, Che Guevara, Castro, Mao Tse Tung, the IRA and so on.
The adult Farage is absolutely fair game, but not perhaps the absurd school boy.
Who, a few months earlier, had been advocating violence against the “Banksters”,
@RupertLowe10
A local Great Yarmouth charity refused my salary donation today, clearly because they don’t like my approach to politics. Left-leaning people involved.
Thousands of pounds that won’t go to the people they’re supposed to help because they can’t put petty politics aside - very disappointing.
Pathetic. We should all be in this to make Great Yarmouth a better place to live and raise a family.
That’s the only thing I’m interested in - it’s why I’m donating my entire MP salary to make it happen, alongside all other efforts.
We will find another home for the donation"
https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/1973122545546330249
*I say “hesitantly” because Labour’s message discipline needs to be consistent for this to have any joy at filtering through (for better or for worse) and their message discipline has typically been utterly shocking.
The loss of the badgers has been great news for hedgehogs though.
Years ago I was doing work at the Federal Mogul plant in Coleford which had been sold for redevelopment. The developer through his aggressive personal rudeness really pissed off my contact at Federal Mogul who was clearing the plant after the sale. My contact found some bats in the eves of one of the buildings, so he got his revenge by tipping off the Environment Agency and Forest of Dean Council. It caused no end of delay for the developer, who thought f*** the bats and demolished regardless. Then all Hell was let loose...
https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/university-st-andrews-students-americans-americanisation-rn2m3cxc5
Luvvly Jubbly.
Italians down here no longer dress well. In the past the city was dangerous but the men very stylish. Now the city is much safer but the men are slobs. Same crap clothes as everywhere - hoodies and jeans (cheap), naff branded sportswear, plastic shoes
What’s happened to the bella figura?
The best dressed people in Naples are girls from east Asia - Chinese, Japanese, Korean
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/01/keir-starmer-labour-collapse-public-support-digital-id-cards?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Please don't send me links to such songs. Remember it is *your* search history that will be linked to your Digital ID card.
That means if you set qualifying criteria at anyone fixed point, you get more men than women meeting it. But some women will always qualify unless you set the bar extremely high such that you struggle to find enough men.
Let's say "run 5km in 20 minutes" - most men can't do it but you'll find far more men than women in an amateur race (see any park run result). But the finalists in the women's 5k world athletics all ran it in around 15 minutes.
So having women in the armed forces is entirely consistent with the idea of "on merit only". You would just suspect fewer than 50% women, which funnily enough is the case already.
*this is entirely an exercise in the imagination as the grifting little holiday-taker is as likely to make a charitable donation as read Keats.
Treasury minister Lord Agnew resigns over government's 'lamentable' record on tackling COVID business loan fraud
https://news.sky.com/story/treasury-minister-lord-agnew-resigns-over-governments-lamentable-record-on-tackling-covid-business-loan-fraud-12524460
Have you been in the funicular? I went up to the highest point and then walked down the steps with the view of the bay. One of the best things I did there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTt3YGBkcMY
The policy will either get shelved or narrowed to be just a right to work ID and only mandatory for those wanting to work.
And completely ignores the very large number of issues of more importance to building efficient and capable armed forces.
But I suppose it's of a piece with their 'return to the coal age' crap.
Now it’s more like 1 in 50. They’ve all got fatter as well (like everyone else)
Noticed the same in Sardinia last week but there I wasn’t so sure as I don’t know Sardinia well. I do know Naples well. Now confirmed
They already have a govt right to work eligibility check service, they should just have quietly rolled that out as a "digital NI number" to everyone then gradually joined it up to the other services.
The moment they called it an ID card they'd lost
Oh wait, I apologise "Conservative Peer Michelle Mone contacted Michael Gove and Lord Agnew... PPE Medpro filed for administration yesterday"
I dare anyone to say she did not serve the country as well as any man could have.
I’ve been saying it for months and now we have proof. People don’t just disregard Starmer they loathe him. He provokes allergic reactions and general nausea. That’s why he has the worst polling in history. No one trusts him and everyone presumes everything he does is designed to hurt British people and help random Arabs on boats
Rational or not, there is it. At this point Labour has no choice but to junk him
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75q9d2pqyeo
In spite of some people here claiming the Lib Dem’s were fanatically pro these cards they have come out against them.
Nope.
Not only was Labour's electoral support a mile wide but an inch deep, their talent pool was an inch wide and an inch deep.
They have included a contigent liability note, but it is clear the company has no ability to repay this. Therefore, corporate lawyers?... unless the directors or shareholders can be held personally liable (highly unlikely, that's the whole point of limited liability) there is no chance of getting more than a token payment from this company.
Still, Labour have no choice. Starmer has to quit because he can no longer govern. Anything he announces turns to ashes
They’d be better off with an inane person like Cooper. At least she doesn’t immediately make you want to puke as you cringe
The Starmer anti-Midas touch raises another issue. Is it not possible his attacks on Farage and Reform will - for this reason - actually boost Farage and Reform?
He has to put more pressure on Hamas. I’m sure they’ll listen.
Presumably this nonsense polls well with key voter groups.
https://x.com/edwardjdavey/status/1973308187882226061?s=61
Poor interview prep.
In rare cross-party consensus, Sadiq thought it such a good idea he implemented it 3 years early, first as T-charge then ULEZ.
Oh.
They’re fighting with the latest pentagon-approved AI tool.
https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1973118911798485393
The spectacle of a deputy White House Comms director publicly arguing with grok is undeniably amusing.
"Yo @grok you're wrong..."
None of these are straightforward (except insurance) but given the sums and the political profile I think the government may well be minded to pursue one or more of them.
So their children grew up playing in it in the 1980s, and .. moving newts between the different ponds in the other fields.
So when they came to self-build on it in around 2013 or so, they had to build newt fences to keep them out, and all the other stuff.
(Whoever it is in the above thread can probably manage the Roe Deer by shooting and eating, which is a Good Thing To Do - but you need to know that you do not have overly-squeamish neighbours.)
But he's German, and he approves conserving nature-at-risk, so they followed the rules.
Or a majority of his MPs and so on
NEW (Germany): Authorities say the drone incidents over Schleswig-Holstein were more serious than first thought. Swarms of drones deliberately flew over critical infrastructure including the Thyssenkrupp naval shipyard in Kiel, Kiel University Hospital, a power plant, the Kiel State Parliament, and the Heide refinery that supplies Hamburg Airport with kerosene..
https://x.com/InsiderGeo/status/1973312973155291319
I don't think anyone outside of Ukraine yet has even a partial capacity to prevent a determined attack.