Would probably need to be 2, dont think BBC would run it if its just one person briefing...
The Guardian reports on widespread backbench doubts about Starmer continuing.
..Many of the MPs who were selected as Labour’s “high-quality candidates” were built in Starmer’s own image: ambitious, thoughtful, many with careers outside politics, loyal to the project of a centrist Labour government that prioritises power but cares about equality.
Many of them remain loyal to that project, but that project could just as easily have a different leader, because Starmer has never really attempted to cultivate personal loyalty.
It has been a real twist to see so many now with an appetite for regime change. They are not – by and large – people who came into politics to practise coups, but have instead been driven to the brink by the party’s woeful standing and their own very thin majorities. As one Labour MP said: “They could try not being paranoid and just try being better.”..
Would probably need to be 2, dont think BBC would run it if its just one person briefing...
The Guardian reports on widespread backbench doubts about Starmer continuing.
..Many of the MPs who were selected as Labour’s “high-quality candidates” were built in Starmer’s own image: ambitious, thoughtful, many with careers outside politics, loyal to the project of a centrist Labour government that prioritises power but cares about equality.
Many of them remain loyal to that project, but that project could just as easily have a different leader, because Starmer has never really attempted to cultivate personal loyalty.
It has been a real twist to see so many now with an appetite for regime change. They are not – by and large – people who came into politics to practise coups, but have instead been driven to the brink by the party’s woeful standing and their own very thin majorities. As one Labour MP said: “They could try not being paranoid and just try being better.”..
Starmer and his inner circle have just guaranteed that more backbenchers will have those doubts.
Honestly, what a bunch of clowns. I’m feeling very Brenda from Bristol about this. Have we now entered an era where everyone’s political reflex in every party is to change leaders as soon as they slump in the polls?
Paperwork blunder by UK bookmaker reveals possible illegal offshore operation ... The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
Confidential government data reveals 1 in 25 prison service staff could face deportation because of the government's new visa rules.
Sources in the prison unions tell me the system, which is already under fire, “could collapse" because of this.
Why are so many overseas people being employed by prisons? (If that is what is happening).
There are fewer better paid jobs for people with no formal qualifications and only brief training.
Because of staff shortages visas were quite easy in the Boriswave.
And easy pre 2021 under FoM. Unless one doesn't consider Polish prison officers to be foreign (which I suppose, for supporters of a federal Europe, is a perfectly legitimate view).
I think those would have residence as part of the Brexit deal. Its the Nigerians and Ghanaians under risk of deportation, quite a high percentage of Prison Officers.
Oh yes, I didn't mean with regard to deportation. Just with regard to Andy's surprise that foreigners should have that particular job.
Most Prison Officers in Leicester seem to be White British, or maybe its just the ones who get put on hospital escort duty, which seems a popular duty. The convicts behave well too, it being a nice day out for them too.
In the UK it’s a fairly well paid job, with security and an excellent pension.
In the US it’s very often fast food money with poor benefits - the health care plan is often crap.
In the old days Prison Officer was a post military career job for guys in their 40s and 50s
See Porridge.
I guess those days are gone.
In the final episode of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, a demobbed BSM Williams is unsuccessful in his application to join the prison service.
Is the Starmer No 10 even less competent than the Sunak regime? Or even (whisper it) the Truss regime? If bond prices collapse then we’re seeing Trussian levels of fiscal incompetence.
Truss made a single massive fuck-up & paid for it immediately. Starmer has (so far) been a long drawn-out demonstration of ineptitude. I’m not sure which is worse frankly.
Definitely worse than Sunak. It's not even worth debating. Not quite as bad as Truss, as yet.
Stig Abell talking to John Pienaar on Times Radio this afternoon said there is overwhelming support for keeping the two child benefit cap:
Support 60%, Oppose 24% (presumably Don't Know 16%)
This is the first time I have ever heard anybody on any TV or radio station state this.
In every report I've ever heard on the subject reporters have just assumed everyone will favour more generous handouts.
This is Badenoch's big chance. Immediately after the Budget she and every Conservative spokesman has to repeat over and over again in every single interview:
"Your income tax is going up to pay increased benefits to people with more than two children."
It will cut through - because it's something everyone can very easily understand.
The more obvious danger is that someone further right will already have started checking family size by ethnicity. Your hard-earned taxes are going to those outsiders! It is not helped by almost no-one understanding what actually is capped.
Sadly it is, without doubt, “an attack by those with an agenda.”
This is not some staff member within the organisation whistleblowing.
Those who can't see that it's part of a concerted cultural attack by the right just don't want to see.
They kinda see it, except they’ve inserted ’forces of’ between ‘the’ and ‘right’. Gives them a warm, virtuous feeling while cackling manically over an institution they loathe getting a kicking.
If the BBc crashes and burns whose fault will it be? It won't be the critics.....
It won’t crash and burn.
A little while ago, a senior manager at Barratt Homes asked a group why the reputation of his company was so low.
I was a guest of a friend, so I couldn’t tell him the truth.
Some of the new build snag videos on YouTube are absolutely horrendous.
Not just Barratt
My answer would be - "Your company has exactly the reputation they have worked hard for. Invested billions in."
I know of no large company that is building quality.
I’d never consider buying new build. The more I read and watch the videos the less enamoured I am with them. I have cycled round a few new build,sites by me. Hmmmm.
The late lamented @JosiasJessop had the odd horror story, too.
I didn't realise he'd left.
iirc there was a row between him and Leon that had echoes of the Joey Barton ‘bike nonce’ affair – are insults figurative or literal, and who gets to decide?
Stig Abell talking to John Pienaar on Times Radio this afternoon said there is overwhelming support for keeping the two child benefit cap:
Support 60%, Oppose 24% (presumably Don't Know 16%)
This is the first time I have ever heard anybody on any TV or radio station state this.
In every report I've ever heard on the subject reporters have just assumed everyone will favour more generous handouts.
This is Badenoch's big chance. Immediately after the Budget she and every Conservative spokesman has to repeat over and over again in every single interview:
"Your income tax is going up to pay increased benefits to people with more than two children."
It will cut through - because it's something everyone can very easily understand.
The more obvious danger is that someone further right will already have started checking family size by ethnicity. Your hard-earned taxes are going to those outsiders! It is not helped by almost no-one understanding what actually is capped.
Modern politics is so downright depressing. Household level beggar thy neighbour as a core ideology. Zero sum thinking at the heart of political philosophy. And that’s true of both left and right.
Fannie Mae watchdogs who were removed from their jobs had been probing if Trump appointee Bill Pulte had improperly obtained mortgage records of key Democratic officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people familiar with the matter. https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1988352288532922459
This is the most corrupt US administration ever, and it's not even close.
Paperwork blunder by UK bookmaker reveals possible illegal offshore operation ... The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
Paperwork blunder by UK bookmaker reveals possible illegal offshore operation ... The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
Paperwork blunder by UK bookmaker reveals possible illegal offshore operation ... The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
It would be good if they disclosed which bookmaker...
The fact that they didn’t send you offshore is proof you are not important to them Robert
Don’t worry, it appears that the aim of the government, and the Gambling Commission, is to send them all completely offshore and out of reach of the regulator.
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
That article is a bunch of fairly thin allegations - "whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections – and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President."
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
That article is a bunch of fairly thin allegations - "whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections – and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President."
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
The article is hyperbolic, certainly. But my comment noted a conflict of interest for someone appointed to advise on impartiality, rather than alleging the kind of conspiracy you discuss.
The Gibb appointment was quite extraordinary. He was also someone with what seems to be clear public animus against individual BBC journalists. For example this tweet from 2020: Is there anyone more damaging to the BBC's reputation for impartiality than @lewis_goodall ? This is so off the scale I don't even know where to begin. https://x.com/RobbieGibb/status/1296355048230981632
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Another difference is that a lot of the more serious violent crime has moved into places where it gets noticed.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
They seem to have this strange idea that their majority is 10 and not 169 - now granted a big majority opens up a large number of issues but we simply can't afford it..
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
That article is a bunch of fairly thin allegations - "whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections – and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President."
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
Because the last PM but two put him there, and there was no movement/mechanism to remove him. And only decent chaps resign for conflicts of interest. And it's too late now.
But it's basically Conquest's Third Law without the secrecy bit.
Paperwork blunder by UK bookmaker reveals possible illegal offshore operation ... The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
It would be good if they disclosed which bookmaker...
The fact that they didn’t send you offshore is proof you are not important to them Robert
A Stoke based firm that pays their owner incredibly well would be my first choice I seem to remember such allegations cropping up in multiple conversations over the years (some of which may have been on here).
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Another difference is that a lot of the more serious violent crime has moved into places where it gets noticed.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
I am with Jeff Bezos on this one, about data and anecdotes. It is plain to most people that regularly use public transport in London that train and tube fare dodging has become an epidemic. I’ve lost count of the number of times in the last year someone has barged through a gate in front of me or with me, after I’ve tapped in.
Confidential government data reveals 1 in 25 prison service staff could face deportation because of the government's new visa rules.
Sources in the prison unions tell me the system, which is already under fire, “could collapse" because of this.
Why are so many overseas people being employed by prisons? (If that is what is happening).
There are fewer better paid jobs for people with no formal qualifications and only brief training.
Because of staff shortages visas were quite easy in the Boriswave.
And easy pre 2021 under FoM. Unless one doesn't consider Polish prison officers to be foreign (which I suppose, for supporters of a federal Europe, is a perfectly legitimate view).
I think those would have residence as part of the Brexit deal. Its the Nigerians and Ghanaians under risk of deportation, quite a high percentage of Prison Officers.
Oh yes, I didn't mean with regard to deportation. Just with regard to Andy's surprise that foreigners should have that particular job.
Most Prison Officers in Leicester seem to be White British, or maybe its just the ones who get put on hospital escort duty, which seems a popular duty. The convicts behave well too, it being a nice day out for them too.
In the UK it’s a fairly well paid job, with security and an excellent pension.
In the US it’s very often fast food money with poor benefits - the health care plan is often crap.
In the old days Prison Officer was a post military career job for guys in their 40s and 50s
See Porridge.
I guess those days are gone.
In the final episode of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, a demobbed BSM Williams is unsuccessful in his application to join the prison service.
Although he had authority he was a failure in all he did. He wanted to be fighting the enemy but was lumbered with the troop. The officers thought him a berk.
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Another difference is that a lot of the more serious violent crime has moved into places where it gets noticed.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
I am with Jeff Bezos on this one, about data and anecdotes. It is plain to most people that regularly use public transport in London that train and tube fare dodging has become an epidemic. I’ve lost count of the number of times in the last year someone has barged through a gate in front of me or with me, after I’ve tapped in.
Fare dodging on trains, by contrast, has essentially disappeared.
I used to use Thameslink all the time when I lived in Bedford, and people traveling between the smaller stations rarely bothered to buy tickets, and inspectors were unknown. Now, essentially every station has proper gates, and are properly staffed, and there are plenty of inspectors on the trains.
Fannie Mae watchdogs who were removed from their jobs had been probing if Trump appointee Bill Pulte had improperly obtained mortgage records of key Democratic officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people familiar with the matter. https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1988352288532922459
This is the most corrupt US administration ever, and it's not even close.
Their approach to recruitment and replacement was already made clear in Project 2025 (p136 onwards). Those not following the cult are deemed to be interfering with 'the will of the people'.
Now about the National Guard ...can't have them sitting around. It's a projection of Presidential powers.
"All personnel with law enforcement capacity should be removed immediately from office billets and deployed to field billets to maximize law enforcement capacity."
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
That article is a bunch of fairly thin allegations - "whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections – and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President."
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
The article is hyperbolic, certainly. But my comment noted a conflict of interest for someone appointed to advise on impartiality, rather than alleging the kind of conspiracy you discuss.
The Gibb appointment was quite extraordinary. He was also someone with what seems to be clear public animus against individual BBC journalists. For example this tweet from 2020: Is there anyone more damaging to the BBC's reputation for impartiality than @lewis_goodall ? This is so off the scale I don't even know where to begin. https://x.com/RobbieGibb/status/1296355048230981632
It is utterly ridiculous confected shreiking. The idea that anyone *cover the children's ears please* right wing should have a say in the running of the BBC is considered shocking. That alone is extremely telling.
Apart from anything else, weren't the substantive parts of the Prescott memo the work of David Grossman, not Prescott? They go back years (decades?) and relate to coverage of many issues, not just Trump.
Would probably need to be 2, dont think BBC would run it if its just one person briefing...
The Guardian reports on widespread backbench doubts about Starmer continuing.
..Many of the MPs who were selected as Labour’s “high-quality candidates” were built in Starmer’s own image: ambitious, thoughtful, many with careers outside politics, loyal to the project of a centrist Labour government that prioritises power but cares about equality.
Many of them remain loyal to that project, but that project could just as easily have a different leader, because Starmer has never really attempted to cultivate personal loyalty.
It has been a real twist to see so many now with an appetite for regime change. They are not – by and large – people who came into politics to practise coups, but have instead been driven to the brink by the party’s woeful standing and their own very thin majorities. As one Labour MP said: “They could try not being paranoid and just try being better.”..
Starmer and his inner circle have just guaranteed that more backbenchers will have those doubts.
Honestly, what a bunch of clowns. I’m feeling very Brenda from Bristol about this. Have we now entered an era where everyone’s political reflex in every party is to change leaders as soon as they slump in the polls?
Yes, because we have acres of Permanews and Permacomment that need filling.
Plus, there's a hefty gap between public expectation and realistic possibility for governments across the West.
But as for last night's shenanigans... A Number Ten Source (and I assume that we're all assuming the same name) needs to be sent on a nice long fact-finding mission. I suggest a global tour of His Majesty's overseas territories, with the aim of finding a long-term home for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor.
Actually, find somewhere nice for yourself while you're at it, Morgan.
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Another difference is that a lot of the more serious violent crime has moved into places where it gets noticed.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
I am with Jeff Bezos on this one, about data and anecdotes. It is plain to most people that regularly use public transport in London that train and tube fare dodging has become an epidemic. I’ve lost count of the number of times in the last year someone has barged through a gate in front of me or with me, after I’ve tapped in.
Fare dodging on trains, by contrast, has essentially disappeared.
I used to use Thameslink all the time when I lived in Bedford, and people traveling between the smaller stations rarely bothered to buy tickets, and inspectors were unknown. Now, essentially every station has proper gates, and are properly staffed, and there are plenty of inspectors on the trains.
That might be true on thameslink but it’s not true on other services out of London Bridge. The inspectors at the gates shrug whenever someone in a hoodie barges through. I’ve experienced this many times. On the trains themselves, the inspectors do not spend their checking tickets but selling them. With the slow death of paper tickets, it’s trivial to buy one for a much shorter journey than you’re actually travelling and then buy one from the guard if they come round.
No PM would be popular right now, especially so if they were trying to do the right thing and get the country back on track.
He has tried planning reform but effots appear to have stalled. He has tried welfare reform but ended up with a bill to spend more. What else is there? What is it that you think he is doing to get us 'back on track'?
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
Two very different issues being conflated.
If people actually want more child poverty the two child cap is a very effective way to achieve it. If you think governments, in particular a Labour government, should aim to reduce child poverty, removing the cap is by far the most cost-effective measure you can make. It's a choice and a question how serious you are about that choice.
Unusually on this site, I think the previous government badly screwed up the second pension age increase and the WASPI women have a fairly strong case, albeit a much more limited one than the one they are making. As a comparison, I think their case is stronger than those taking out variable interest car loans in the recent court case and regulatory compensation decision. Which is the key point. Car loan companies were legally compelled to provide compensation. There's no political appetite to compensate WASPI women but as the case is heading to Judicial Review where I reckon, and the government presumably also reckons it has a high chance of losing, it's about limiting the damage.
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
Two very different issues being conflated.
If people actually want more child poverty the two child cap is a very effective way to achieve it. If you think governments, in particular a Labour government, should aim to reduce child poverty, removing the cap is by far the most cost-effective measure you can make. It's a choice and a question how serious you are about that choice.
Unusually on this site, I think the previous government badly screwed up the second pension age increase and the WASPI women have a fairly strong case, albeit a much more limited one than the one they are making. As a comparison, I think their case is stronger than those taking out variable interest car loans in the recent court case and regulatory compensation decision. Which is the key point. Car loan companies were legally compelled to provide compensation. There's no political appetite to compensate WASPI women but as the case is heading to Judicial Review where I reckon, and the government presumably also reckons it has a high chance of losing, it's about limiting the damage.
DWP are actually worse than the Home Office. They make so many mistakes (due to the complexities of layers of laws) that there is a template for JR's available all over the internet. DWP reviewing something or other is almost daily - adding to the complexities of layers of laws.
No future government will be exempt from this burden.
I have serious concerns about the partiality and accuracy of the section of the Prescott report which deals with the BBC's reporting of the US presidential election. It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
That article is a bunch of fairly thin allegations - "whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections – and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President."
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
The article is hyperbolic, certainly. But my comment noted a conflict of interest for someone appointed to advise on impartiality, rather than alleging the kind of conspiracy you discuss.
The Gibb appointment was quite extraordinary. He was also someone with what seems to be clear public animus against individual BBC journalists. For example this tweet from 2020: Is there anyone more damaging to the BBC's reputation for impartiality than @lewis_goodall ? This is so off the scale I don't even know where to begin. https://x.com/RobbieGibb/status/1296355048230981632
It is utterly ridiculous confected shreiking. The idea that anyone *cover the children's ears please* right wing should have a say in the running of the BBC is considered shocking. That alone is extremely telling.
Apart from anything else, weren't the substantive parts of the Prescott memo the work of David Grossman, not Prescott? They go back years (decades?) and relate to coverage of many issues, not just Trump.
You miss the point entirely. It's not that the guy is right wing (the BBC needs representation across the political spectrum). That's pretty clear from both Robert and my comments.
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
Two very different issues being conflated.
If people actually want more child poverty the two child cap is a very effective way to achieve it. If you think governments, in particular a Labour government, should aim to reduce child poverty, removing the cap is by far the most cost-effective measure you can make. It's a choice and a question how serious you are about that choice.
Unusually on this site, I think the previous government badly screwed up the second pension age increase and the WASPI women have a fairly strong case, albeit a much more limited one than the one they are making. As a comparison, I think their case is stronger than those taking out variable interest car loans in the recent court case and regulatory compensation decision. Which is the key point. Car loan companies were legally compelled to provide compensation. There's no political appetite to compensate WASPI women but as the case is heading to Judicial Review where I reckon, and the government presumably also reckons it has a high chance of losing, it's about limiting the damage.
Why do you reckon the govt has a high chance of losing the judicial review over the WASPI women ?
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
That is certainly true. And, of course, the nature of crime changes all the time. There are crimes that were very common 25 years ago that are essentially unknown today (nobody gets their car broken into because someone wants to steal the stereo, and the number of burglaries has collapsed).
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Another difference is that a lot of the more serious violent crime has moved into places where it gets noticed.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
I am with Jeff Bezos on this one, about data and anecdotes. It is plain to most people that regularly use public transport in London that train and tube fare dodging has become an epidemic. I’ve lost count of the number of times in the last year someone has barged through a gate in front of me or with me, after I’ve tapped in.
I think fare dodging on the Underground is like San Francisco shoplifting. If you stop recording crime, then recorded crime goes down.
Off topic - my son works in retail. Today his place of work was robbed for the 4th time in as many weeks: on 3 occasions it's been shoplifters. Today it was a group of men in balaclavas with a van. My son tackled one of them and got some of the goods back. And yes he's been told - by me and others - not to do this because his safety and life are more important. But he finds it infuriating because even in leafy Hampstead crime is out of control. His bike has been stolen 3 times in 3 years. That's in addition to the brake levers, wheels and axle being taken on other occasions. Tesco is regularly robbed. Now his place of work. Etc.,. And the police are completely uninterested.
This cannot go on. Security staff can't do anything. CCTV is there but is no use if no-one investigates.
I see people fare-dodging on the tube every time I visit London now. Used to be unusual in terms of noticing it. Must have happened less frequently so you weren't aware of it.
Fare dodging is down on previous years and number of prosecutions is up:
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
Obvious question, to which I am sure there is a simple answer. How do they know fare dodging is down as by implication those people are not showing on the system?
Comments
..Many of the MPs who were selected as Labour’s “high-quality candidates” were built in Starmer’s own image: ambitious, thoughtful, many with careers outside politics, loyal to the project of a centrist Labour government that prioritises power but cares about equality.
Many of them remain loyal to that project, but that project could just as easily have a different leader, because Starmer has never really attempted to cultivate personal loyalty.
It has been a real twist to see so many now with an appetite for regime change. They are not – by and large – people who came into politics to practise coups, but have instead been driven to the brink by the party’s woeful standing and their own very thin majorities. As one Labour MP said: “They could try not being paranoid and just try being better.”..
Honestly, what a bunch of clowns. I’m feeling very Brenda from Bristol about this. Have we now entered an era where everyone’s political reflex in every party is to change leaders as soon as they slump in the polls?
...
The Gambling Commission has demanded a UK bookmaker hand over a trove of financial documents after the company accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
The Guardian understands that the company, which sponsors sporting events and boasts connections to high-profile figures in sport and politics, is the subject of early inquiries that could lead to a full-blown investigation.
...
The company mistakenly included documents indicating it had been transacting with entities based overseas, sources said. Details were written in white text on a white background but were spotted by staff at the regulator.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/11/paperwork-blunder-by-uk-bookmaker-reveals-possible-offshore-operation
That last sentence: whistleblowing or amateurism?
This seems suitable
Breaking WSJ:
Fannie Mae watchdogs who were removed from their jobs had been probing if Trump appointee Bill Pulte had improperly obtained mortgage records of key Democratic officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people familiar with the matter.
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1988352288532922459
This is the most corrupt US administration ever, and it's not even close.
It simply doesn't give a fair account of the balance of that reporting, as I recall it.
I hadn't realised that Prescott was also apparently a paid lobbyist with potentially serious conflicts of interest at the same time as he was employed to advise the BBC on impartiality.
‘BBC Bias’ Memo Was Authored by Lobbyist Tied to Pro-Trump Tech Giants
The leaked memo that fuelled Trump’s attack on the BBC was written by a lobbyist at a firm paid by US tech giants tied to the President
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/bbc-bias-memo-lobbyist-trump-tech-giants/
In true Russian tradition, it had a little too much vodka beforehand.
https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1988303194368471077
Oracle is a publicly traded company and one of the largest software companies in the world. I'm no fan of Larry Ellison, but the idea that he's forcing a company which he's the Chairman of to use a PR company in London so that he can smear the BBC seems a little far fetched. (I would also note that Hanover communications also counts Ukraine's largest beer company, and Europe's largest renewable energy provider among its clients.)
To my mind, it is the Gibb connection that is the troubling one: because Gibb's other hat is as co-founder of a competing news organization. (Indeed: why is a founder and shreholder of GB News on the board of the BBC? That seems like a crazy conflict of interest.)
I see Labour's quest to waste billions on people who don't deserve it has taken another step forward with the decision to 're-consider' the WASPI women and their grasping demands:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709y7ln5zro
And Reeves, burdened by the surplus of treasure, is muttering about flinging some at those with more than two children. Got to waste some of our excess wealth somehow, I suppose:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70j7dxjp5wo
https://x.com/mattcartoonist/status/1988296141063287154
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g8jvwz4m1o
Theres a difference between crime and perceptions.
But my comment noted a conflict of interest for someone appointed to advise on impartiality, rather than alleging the kind of conspiracy you discuss.
The Gibb appointment was quite extraordinary.
He was also someone with what seems to be clear public animus against individual BBC journalists.
For example this tweet from 2020:
Is there anyone more damaging to the BBC's reputation for impartiality than @lewis_goodall ? This is so off the scale I don't even know where to begin.
https://x.com/RobbieGibb/status/1296355048230981632
Rutland water is at 50% capacity, and that is pretty typical of our reservoirs. The water is being pumped south.
It is going to have to be a very wet winter ito prevent shortages next summer.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/08/england-faces-extreme-drought-next-year?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
We haven't built a new reservoir in over 3 decades, another triumph of water privatisation.
On the other hand, identity theft and online fraud are through the roof, and on the ONS's own numbers incidents of shoplifting are at the highest level since the current reporting standards were introduced in 20003. (And were up 20% last year, which is a pretty big jump.)
There is a problem in the UK - started by the coalition government in 2010 - that spending on criminal justice (police, courts and the like) has been cut to the bone.
It's such a shame that the current administration - run by the former Director of Public Prosecutions - seems so uninterested in solving the issue.
Two decades ago the gangs would mostly stay on the estates and stab or steal from each other, now they’re hanging out on fancy streets robbing watches from people leaving restaurants, or riding scooters stealing phones from people walking down the high street - crimes that always get recorded, and make the news.
But it's basically Conquest's Third Law without the secrecy bit.
A fabulous character.
I used to use Thameslink all the time when I lived in Bedford, and people traveling between the smaller stations rarely bothered to buy tickets, and inspectors were unknown. Now, essentially every station has proper gates, and are properly staffed, and there are plenty of inspectors on the trains.
Now about the National Guard ...can't have them sitting around. It's a projection of Presidential powers.
"All personnel with law enforcement capacity should be removed immediately from office billets and deployed to field billets to maximize law enforcement capacity."
Apart from anything else, weren't the substantive parts of the Prescott memo the work of David Grossman, not Prescott? They go back years (decades?) and relate to coverage of many issues, not just Trump.
Plus, there's a hefty gap between public expectation and realistic possibility for governments across the West.
But as for last night's shenanigans... A Number Ten Source (and I assume that we're all assuming the same name) needs to be sent on a nice long fact-finding mission. I suggest a global tour of His Majesty's overseas territories, with the aim of finding a long-term home for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor.
Actually, find somewhere nice for yourself while you're at it, Morgan.
(Ooh, what a giveaway!)
NEW THREAD
If people actually want more child poverty the two child cap is a very effective way to achieve it. If you think governments, in particular a Labour government, should aim to reduce child poverty, removing the cap is by far the most cost-effective measure you can make. It's a choice and a question how serious you are about that choice.
Unusually on this site, I think the previous government badly screwed up the second pension age increase and the WASPI women have a fairly strong case, albeit a much more limited one than the one they are making. As a comparison, I think their case is stronger than those taking out variable interest car loans in the recent court case and regulatory compensation decision. Which is the key point. Car loan companies were legally compelled to provide compensation. There's no political appetite to compensate WASPI women but as the case is heading to Judicial Review where I reckon, and the government presumably also reckons it has a high chance of losing, it's about limiting the damage.
No future government will be exempt from this burden.
It's not that the guy is right wing (the BBC needs representation across the political spectrum).
That's pretty clear from both Robert and my comments.