When Labour announced VAT on private school fees, they promised it would raise £1.7 billion for state schools.
With 25,000 pupils already forced out, eight times more than predicted, the policy is on track to cost taxpayers money rather than raise it. A thread....
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10125/ says "The government forecast that imposing VAT on fees will result in 37,000 pupils leaving the private sector, representing about 6% of the current private school population." So, how is 25,000 "eight times more than predicted"? It looks more like two thirds of what was predicted.
That was "Long Term" i.e. in total after 6+ years. The prediction was just 3000 in year 1. There is a table of the predictions here,
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
"Generations" are an artificial construct. People aren't born into a generation. They are just born when they're born.
When Labour announced VAT on private school fees, they promised it would raise £1.7 billion for state schools.
With 25,000 pupils already forced out, eight times more than predicted, the policy is on track to cost taxpayers money rather than raise it. A thread....
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10125/ says "The government forecast that imposing VAT on fees will result in 37,000 pupils leaving the private sector, representing about 6% of the current private school population." So, how is 25,000 "eight times more than predicted"? It looks more like two thirds of what was predicted.
There's a distinction between people actively leaving and people not starting private school each year, right? Are we comparing like with like?
The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.
I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.
I have quite a bit of interaction with education - and at the secondary level at least this feels very plausible. It's not all teachers, and not all schools, but, well, if you're a white British straight male, British schools aren't a place to make you feel good about yourself.
Not like in the good old days when all the gay kids were either closeted or bullied every single day, the girls could expect to be continuously harassed by the boys and racism was absolutely endemic. This was my experience of school life in the 1980s and early 1990s. These days my son's straight white male friends all seem pretty happy at school FWIW.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My parents celebrated the summer of love by getting married! Not exactly swinging sixties, although they did tie the knot with a Quaker ceremony, prompting my extremely rightwing grandfather to ask the minister if it was legal. The culture wars were very much a thing then as well!
The site seems a bit tetchy, so I shall selflessly use up my picture ration with a cheering picture quiz. This one shouldn’t be too hard
What links these three anonymous American suburban garages
Norma Jean ?
No. The answer is quite cool. No googling!!!!
Amazon, HP and ?
No yes and....? No Googling!
NO GOOGLE
Ah, one must be the original global headquarters for Larry and Sergey. Don't know which.
Yep. And that's close enough. They are all in Silicon Valley, and I did a tour of them yesterday, when I realised they made a brilliant trinity of tech
The answer, chronologically:
On left: that shadowed little green-doored hut down the narrow path is the Hewlett-Packard Garage in Palo Alto, where in 1939 Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard built a low-distortion audio oscillator - the HP Model 200A- that powered Disney’s Fantasia and quietly birthed Silicon Valley
Bottom right: the single-storey suburban house with the white car and pink flowers? - that's the Apple Garage, where Jobs and Wozniak conjured the first Macintosh dreams, in 1976
Top right: the neat beige split-level, with its white fence and careful hedge, is Google’s Menlo Park birthplace, where Sergey Brin and Larry Page set up their first servers, installed a whiteboard, and refined their PageRank algorithm. Laying the foundation of the modern internet, in 1998
Three garages, within one 20 minute drive, and in a way the entire history of modern tech
You really want something interesting?
Visit SRI International and draw out the spiders web that it sits at the heart of
It does look like Reform keep nudging up on high end. 4-5 months ago it was at 30%, now a number of polls in 33-35% range. Farage saying iffy stuff doesn't seem to hurt him.
I don't have much against Sunak, but he's already rich, and like so many ex-PM's and prominent politicians he seems to be after the money. Why doesn't he just write books about music hall and cricket?
To be fair that is his interest and I expect he will stand down at the next election anyway
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.
I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education. Rather behaviour, slipping standards, kids effected by COVID lockdown still not ready to learn are the things that my friends who do have kids bang on about.
It was the sort of thing the Tories used to go on about in the 1970s IIRC. Always been there bobbing around in the stream of discourse, albeiot sometimes mostly submerged.
Gove (or Cummings/Gove) and the blob ring any bells?
That's not quite the same claim. Their criticism was the "blob" stopped innovation and reform and teacher didn't want to change the way they did things. Farage is claiming something different, something very US centric about the Marxists and the trans teachers are indoctrinating the kids. That is straight Libs of TikTok type stuff.
Michael Gove did try to rewrite the history syllabus out of those concerns.
That is a fair point to an extent, but I don't think he was directly accusing all the teachers of being activists, rather he took umbrage with the way the narrative of history was being set out by those who wrote the curriculum. Bridget Phillipson has muttered about the same from the other end of the telescope, haven't followed if she has pulled the trigger on it.
It seems with Gove, the I know history better and what is being taught is missing a load of important stuff I like.
Gove, like so many of us pontificating on education, was just remembering his own schooldays. He liked history and was no good at sport so was happily selling off playing fields. What I will say for Michael Gove is that he did support a liberal arts education as a good thing in itself.
Gove takes a lot of flack on here, not least from @ydoethur, but the progress up the PISA scores shows most of what he did was right and has worked. In contrast, in Scotland, the tumbling down the rankings since the fiasco that is Curriculum for Excellence, shows things have gone seriously wrong.
.... But it has the word 'Excellence' in the title. Surely having played that masterstroke it's a done deal?
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
Credit where it's due and if we are to see a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the surviving hostages this will be most welcome and if that means handing out plaudits to President Trump, so be it.
The devil in these things is always in the detail and all we have is a ceasefire but jaw-jaw is, as someone accurately opined, better than war-war.
Hamas remains a political if not military force and Israel will still control half of Gaza when the ceasefire comes into effect. That begs the question as to how a new political administration for Gaza will be crafted absent a Hamas involvement and whether that in itself will persuade Israel to leave Gaza completely.
The role of Egypt in all this is interesting - I wonder what guarantees El-Sisi has sought and been given as to the future political direction of Gaza .
My thoughts went more to Sudan (despite the shameful lack of media coverage of what's been going on there). Be an awful pity if Egypt had to 'step in' and take control of a big bit of the Nile and other resources 'for the stability of the region'.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
I was younger but the sixties were wonderful for us as we got married, bought our first new home here in Wales, had our first born and developed a successful businesses
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
Only £10 to emigrate to Australia.
My folks were planning Vancouver.
My mum failed the TB chest X-ray, and needed years of treatment. After that was done the moment was gone, otherwise I would be a Cannuck. We did go to the USA for 5 years though, and had a pretty good time.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
I think the only time I remember my parents getting proper angry was when I - as a young lad - referred to the swinging sixties, people partying, everyone having a lovely time.
It didn't seem to quite chime with their memories of the same era. Thank goodness the media is now far less middle-class and London-centric.
When Labour announced VAT on private school fees, they promised it would raise £1.7 billion for state schools.
With 25,000 pupils already forced out, eight times more than predicted, the policy is on track to cost taxpayers money rather than raise it. A thread....
It has included the VAT that people leaving private school would have paid as part of the costs of imposing VAT on private schools. That's completely irrelevant as they would have never earned that VAT without imposing it...
25,000 x £8.2k is £205m annually. Not £300m. Based on their own figures.
At no point do they actually make the numbers add up to suggest it costs more than it raises. They just wave their hands on the matter after spouting nonsense to start with.
Irrelevant for this but if he loses Wales in May 26 and performs badly elsewhere then that may well be a problem for him
The Caerphilly by-election appears to be a 2 horse race between PC and Reform, with Reform having the edge in the betting markets. Its main significance is as a pointer to the outcome of the Senedd election in May 2026. PC and Reform have radically different visions, so this is of major importance for the future development of Wales as a country.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
I didn't do any of that myself, nor did anyone I actually knew. It was all on the television.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
I didn't do any of that myself, nor did anyone I actually knew. It was all on the television.
My Dad was aged 13 to 23 in the sixties. He makes it sound idyllic. He was a young man who liked walking, climbing, fishing and folk music. The world was full of possibilities and felt fuller of possibilities for curious young souls than it ever had before. This all happened a long way from London. Not exactly swinging Cheshire, but a Cheshire in which the world was opening up. He reckons he went to the famous Bob Dylan 'Judas' gig at the Free Trade Hall, but doesn't remember the incident for which it was famous. He did actually get to London at the end of the decade. But it wasn't just London. If you were young, the world was at your feet. I guess that's the way the world has always felt for boomers.
Irrelevant for this but if he loses Wales in May 26 and performs badly elsewhere then that may well be a problem for him
The Caerphilly by-election appears to be a 2 horse race between PC and Reform, with Reform having the edge in the betting markets. Its main significance is as a pointer to the outcome of the Senedd election in May 2026. PC and Reform have radically different visions, so this is of major importance for the future development of Wales as a country.
You do know I live in Wales and the desire to end Labour's years in office is such that the trajectory post the Caerphilly by-election election will not be a surprise to any of us who have had Labour in power since devolution and the winners will be Plaid and Reform in May 26
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
I didn't do any of that myself, nor did anyone I actually knew. It was all on the television.
My Dad was aged 13 to 23 in the sixties. He makes it sound idyllic. He was a young man who liked walking, climbing, fishing and folk music. The world was full of possibilities and felt fuller of possibilities for curious young souls than it ever had before. This all happened a long way from London. Not exactly swinging Cheshire, but a Cheshire in which the world was opening up. He reckons he went to the famous Bob Dylan 'Judas' gig at the Free Trade Hall, but doesn't remember the incident for which it was famous. He did actually get to London at the end of the decade. But it wasn't just London. If you were young, the world was at your feet. I guess that's the way the world has always felt for boomers.
Rishi Sunak has been appointed as a senior adviser by the US technology companies Microsoft and Anthropic.
The former British prime minister’s pair of new jobs emerged on Thursday in letters published by Westminster’s office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). They add to his roles as a senior adviser to Goldman Sachs International, the investment bank, and speechmaker to investment firms including Bain Capital and Makena Capital in the US, which have netted him over £150,000 a talk.
Rishi Sunak has been appointed as a senior adviser by the US technology companies Microsoft and Anthropic.
The former British prime minister’s pair of new jobs emerged on Thursday in letters published by Westminster’s office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). They add to his roles as a senior adviser to Goldman Sachs International, the investment bank, and speechmaker to investment firms including Bain Capital and Makena Capital in the US, which have netted him over £150,000 a talk.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
I think the only time I remember my parents getting proper angry was when I - as a young lad - referred to the swinging sixties, people partying, everyone having a lovely time.
It didn't seem to quite chime with their memories of the same era. Thank goodness the media is now far less middle-class and London-centric.
Mr Farage on Reform's education policy (presumably).
He’s not wrong. My children’s school had this woman in to ‘decolonise the curriculum’ and ‘audit’ the teachers and library. I met with her and she was 100% up for trashing England
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
Only £10 to emigrate to Australia.
My folks were planning Vancouver.
My mum failed the TB chest X-ray, and needed years of treatment. After that was done the moment was gone, otherwise I would be a Cannuck. We did go to the USA for 5 years though, and had a pretty good time.
My parents nearly emigrated to NZ in the mid 1950s but my granny would have been left on her own, and those were the days before cheap flights. So I missed out on being a compatriot of certain PBers.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
I didn't do any of that myself, nor did anyone I actually knew. It was all on the television.
My Dad was aged 13 to 23 in the sixties. He makes it sound idyllic. He was a young man who liked walking, climbing, fishing and folk music. The world was full of possibilities and felt fuller of possibilities for curious young souls than it ever had before. This all happened a long way from London. Not exactly swinging Cheshire, but a Cheshire in which the world was opening up. He reckons he went to the famous Bob Dylan 'Judas' gig at the Free Trade Hall, but doesn't remember the incident for which it was famous. He did actually get to London at the end of the decade. But it wasn't just London. If you were young, the world was at your feet. I guess that's the way the world has always felt for boomers.
I remember the early 1970s. The stench of fruistrated male hormones in the school changing room at having missed 1968 and the Summer of Love.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
I think the only time I remember my parents getting proper angry was when I - as a young lad - referred to the swinging sixties, people partying, everyone having a lovely time.
It didn't seem to quite chime with their memories of the same era. Thank goodness the media is now far less middle-class and London-centric.
Beeching Cuts.
Sucj a strange era - old waggonways, even plateways in places like Shropshire, and steam locos from the Victorian era, at the same time as V-bombers and Deltic diesels.
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
NY Times blog
I’m passing through Portland in about 3 days. Great timing
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
NY Times blog
I’m passing through Portland in about 3 days. Great timing
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
NY Times blog
You know, I'm beginning to think that Biden should have attempted to post troops to Republican areas, so the Supreme Court could have squashed it, and therefore (hopefully) Trump would have been stymied.
Don't really like the programme but have a feeling the 1 vs 5 that is about to be aired will be very beneficial for us ( Greens)
On other developments good to see ZS and JC appear together for your party. A successful electoral pact could be the biggest threat to Farage in GE 2029 and the death knell for red and blue Tories.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
My Dad was 25 in 1960.
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
I think the only time I remember my parents getting proper angry was when I - as a young lad - referred to the swinging sixties, people partying, everyone having a lovely time.
It didn't seem to quite chime with their memories of the same era. Thank goodness the media is now far less middle-class and London-centric.
Beeching Cuts.
Sucj a strange era - old waggonways, even plateways in places like Shropshire, and steam locos from the Victorian era, at the same time as V-bombers and Deltic diesels.
Same, I had to check with YouGov that there were no typos in the posts.
I just cannot wrap my ahead around it, my parents think their main role in life is to spend money on their grandkids, and also leave me and them a massive inheritance.
I'm not sure it's entitlement - just a massive failure to recognise how anomalously lucky their generation is. My mother in law has a slightly exasperating tendency to talk to us about what we'll do when we retire, blithely expecting that we'll be able to have the same two-cruises-a-year lifestyle she has. At present my plan A is work until my 70s then off to Dignitas.
There's a total lack of self-awareness.
It's also the generation that did the Summer of '69 and all the self-indulgence of the 1960s, so there's a certain me me me to them anyway.
We can take the 'generation' thing a bit too far. My dad's reaction to the 'summer of love': "I was too busy trying to make a living"
I fear the stories of the swinging sixties are far more widespread than the actual experiences.
I didn't do any of that myself, nor did anyone I actually knew. It was all on the television.
My Dad was aged 13 to 23 in the sixties. He makes it sound idyllic. He was a young man who liked walking, climbing, fishing and folk music. The world was full of possibilities and felt fuller of possibilities for curious young souls than it ever had before. This all happened a long way from London. Not exactly swinging Cheshire, but a Cheshire in which the world was opening up. He reckons he went to the famous Bob Dylan 'Judas' gig at the Free Trade Hall, but doesn't remember the incident for which it was famous. He did actually get to London at the end of the decade. But it wasn't just London. If you were young, the world was at your feet. I guess that's the way the world has always felt for boomers.
I remember the early 1970s. The stench of fruistrated male hormones in the school changing room at having missed 1968 and the Summer of Love.
The sixties were rubbish. I hadn’t yet met Mrs. F. (I don’t think she reads PB but you can’t be too sure.)
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
NY Times blog
I’m passing through Portland in about 3 days. Great timing
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Thursday to clear the way for President Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., and pause a lower-court ruling that found that Mr. Trump had probably exceeded his authority by declaring a “rebellion” where there was none.
NY Times blog
You know, I'm beginning to think that Biden should have attempted to post troops to Republican areas, so the Supreme Court could have squashed it, and therefore (hopefully) Trump would have been stymied.
Maybe. But I suspect the Trump justices would just say 'well it's different when Dear Leader does it because of X' where X is some until now unheard of archaic nonsense from the days of the drafting of the constitution.
Per a source: “This morning, every DOD employee was instructed to certify, in writing, they they have watched Hegseth’s speech” from last week’s Quantico meeting.
The stretched twig of peace is at melting point. People here are literally bursting with war. This is very much a country that's gonna blow up in its face.
Don't really like the programme but have a feeling the 1 vs 5 that is about to be aired will be very beneficial for us ( Greens)
On other developments good to see ZS and JC appear together for your party. A successful electoral pact could be the biggest threat to Farage in GE 2029 and the death knell for red and blue Tories.
The so-called Greens and Sultanarama are two cheeks of the same arse.
What will they do when there is no war in Gaza to pretend to be bothered about?
The woman that ICE shot several times. For no reason.
So, she carried a gun, the legal way.
"Officials had initially alleged that Martinez was armed and rammed her car into federal agents, threatening to shoot officers. However, prosecutors now acknowledge that she did not point or display a weapon. Parente also confirmed that while she had a valid firearm, she also had a concealed-carry license." https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1976317960818970860
If literally everything becomes automated what will happen to American tipping culture? I bet they find a way to perpetuate it
“Why am I tipping a machine?”
“Because someone invented the machine”
“He’s dead”
“Yeah but someone has to look after his grave”
And yet even Americans don't tip either airline pilots or airline stewarts/stewardesses. (Sorry for not using whatever the new terms are for those jobs).
I'm surprised the story about Johnson not swearing-in the Democrat elected to the House on September 23rd hasn't been mentioned on here more often - apparently to prevent a vote on the release of the Epstein Files being forced.
The Republican defiance of democracy becomes ever more blatant.
Comments
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/applying-vat-to-private-school-fees
Visit SRI International and draw out the spiders web that it sits at the heart of
@ElectionMapsUK
Westminster Voting Intention:
RFM: 33% (+3)
LAB: 20% (=)
CON: 19% (-1)
LDM: 14% (=)
GRN: 8% (=)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via
@Moreincommon_
, 3-6 Oct.
Changes w/ 26-29 Sep."
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1975860740121841817
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Washington
I am not sure, but think Bill Gates preferred Bellevue, but couldn't find enough space there, and so instead chose a farm in neighboring Redmond.
In the past, and possibly still, Microsoft employees seemed to like the company more than he customers did; the opposite was true of Amazon.
(For the record: The suburb I live in is adjacent to both Bellevue and Redmond -- and a Google operation is just a few blocks from my apartment.)
@ElectionMapsUK
Westminster Voting Intention:
RFM: 32% (-3)
LAB: 17% (-2)
CON: 17% (+3)
GRN: 15% (+4)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via @FindoutnowUK, 8 Oct
Changes w/ 1 Oct."
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK
He described the Sixties to me as "a depressing time, everyone was trying to emigrate".
When you look at the figures, he was probably right.
My mum failed the TB chest X-ray, and needed years of treatment. After that was done the moment was gone, otherwise I would be a Cannuck. We did go to the USA for 5 years though, and had a pretty good time.
It didn't seem to quite chime with their memories of the same era. Thank goodness the media is now far less middle-class and London-centric.
It has included the VAT that people leaving private school would have paid as part of the costs of imposing VAT on private schools. That's completely irrelevant as they would have never earned that VAT without imposing it...
25,000 x £8.2k is £205m annually. Not £300m. Based on their own figures.
At no point do they actually make the numbers add up to suggest it costs more than it raises. They just wave their hands on the matter after spouting nonsense to start with.
And with which army?
On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial
https://x.com/dannyctkemp/status/1976380882253668681
Jonathan Powell suppressed a major Whitehall investigation into Chinese spying after lobbying from the Treasury.
Powell decided in June that the Government would not publish details about Beijing’s espionage from the Foreign Office’s “China audit”.
https://x.com/Tony_Diver/status/1976373757423083572
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/09/treasury-suppressed-investigation-chinese-spying-scandal/
This whole story smells worse than a Jackson Lamb fart after a big curry.
He reckons he went to the famous Bob Dylan 'Judas' gig at the Free Trade Hall, but doesn't remember the incident for which it was famous.
He did actually get to London at the end of the decade. But it wasn't just London. If you were young, the world was at your feet. I guess that's the way the world has always felt for boomers.
For once the football boot is on the other foot and it fits.
https://youtu.be/-X-taPvKWbY?si=F3r4prhWdhHS2nOS
@LauraBeveridge7
·
2h
Zarah Sultana to Your Party rally tonight: “It has been regrettable and for my part, I’m truly sorry” over membership debacle
https://x.com/LauraBeveridge7/status/1976355466449179040
'Scotland's World Cup dream remains alive after 70 minutes of the most abject football you'll ever see.'
'One of the most spectacular acts of pickpocketry you could see.'
'Greece will be absolutely spewing.'
NY Times blog
Don't really like the programme but have a feeling the 1 vs 5 that is about to be aired will be very beneficial for us ( Greens)
On other developments good to see ZS and JC appear together for your party. A successful electoral pact could be the biggest threat to Farage in GE 2029 and the death knell for red and blue Tories.
My Very Dear Ones,
I write to you from near the front lines of war ravaged Portland.
https://bsky.app/profile/timdickinson.bsky.social/post/3m2nfhpkmwk2z
Waymos are simply superior to the human version. They will conquer
Per a source: “This morning, every DOD employee was instructed to certify, in writing, they they have watched Hegseth’s speech” from last week’s Quantico meeting.
“Why am I tipping a machine?”
“Because someone invented the machine”
“He’s dead”
“Yeah but someone has to look after his grave”
What will they do when there is no war in Gaza to pretend to be bothered about?
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
https://bsky.app/profile/thedailyshow.com/post/3m2rydytfmc2j
I've been wondering why Dominion Voting Systems suddenly reached settlements with Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and One America News.
Turns out, it's been purchased by a Republican-owned election tech firm that insisted on it, per Axios.
https://x.com/JayShams/status/1976357831038337214
For no reason.
So, she carried a gun, the legal way.
"Officials had initially alleged that Martinez was armed and rammed her car into federal agents, threatening to shoot officers. However, prosecutors now acknowledge that she did not point or display a weapon. Parente also confirmed that while she had a valid firearm, she also had a concealed-carry license."
https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1976317960818970860
The Republican defiance of democracy becomes ever more blatant.