This is quite concerning. NATOs Wedgetail (= AWACS replacement) programme has been afaics essentially killed by US withdrawal.
I'm not sure where this laves the UK.
NATO’s effort to replace its ageing E-3A Sentry fleet has been upended after the United States pulled out of the alliance’s planned purchase of up to six Boeing E-7 Wedgetails, leaving the programme without a strategic or financial anchor, the UK Defence Journal understands.
"We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” according to DOJ & FBI’s July letter.
Now AG Bondi has announced she has tapped Jay Clayton, the current U.S. attorney for SDNY, to lead the Trump-ordered investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with high-profile Democrats & JP Morgan Chase. https://x.com/KFaulders/status/1989415603556188210
Political equivalent of Mutually Assured Destruction. If the Dems keep looking, there will be stuff on leading Democrats as well as Republicans. An overt suggestion to bury it quickly but will MAGA accept it?
The whole thing is extraordinary, but if Tump did that to [nickname for Bill Clinton] - are we buying that by [nickname for Bill Clinton] they meant someone else? Why would they suddenly use his nickname for someone else? It would be very confusing for one thing.
I don't believe it myself. Since when has Trump done anything to bring pleasure to someone else?
This is quite concerning. NATOs Wedgetail (= AWACS replacement) programme has been afaics essentially killed by US withdrawal.
I'm not sure where this laves the UK.
NATO’s effort to replace its ageing E-3A Sentry fleet has been upended after the United States pulled out of the alliance’s planned purchase of up to six Boeing E-7 Wedgetails, leaving the programme without a strategic or financial anchor, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Jonathan Carley, 64, was arrested at his home in Harlech on Friday after being accused of impersonating a rear admiral.
The retired teacher saluted the war memorial in Llandudno, North Wales, on Sunday while wearing a row of 12 medals over an ill-fitting uniform.
North Wales Police arrested him under the 1894 Uniforms Act, which bars anyone who has not served in the armed forces from wearing military uniform.
I'd rather they arrested burglars and shoplifters than someone who pretended to be a rear admiral.
Hurty words on social media, walter mitty for Remberance Sunday, plod on it in a flash, putting the last drops of your coffee down the drain, putting a letter in the wrong recycling, council on it in a flash, £1000 fine in seconds....
The media are getting people so hysterical about what in any case remains an alleged set of offences that a breach of the peace will happen sooner or later [edit] thanks to some random idiot unless plod does something.
Remember, Poppy Day is very, very, very important today in DM and DT land.
(But it always was important, as Armistice Day. And I don't blame real servicepeople and their families for being seriously offended. Quite the contrary.)
Some MAGA conspiracy theorists are arguing that Erika Kirk is a transman… Can we put the entirety of the US on a digital detox?
Unless they are arguing she is trying to transition to be a man (are they?), it would be the other way around.
Words change over time and the phrases used change as society's views change. This is particularly true of trans stuff post-SC as society adapts. So we have "male-to-female" (old school) or "trans woman" (pro-trans) or "trans femme" (gender ideology) or "biological male" (anti-trans) or "trans-identified-female" (gender critical) or even "biological male who identifies as a female" (BBC) or "trans woman, biological male" (SC ruling), and so on.
- Freeze on thresholds to 2030 (worth £10bn) - New tax on some forms of gambling (£3bn) - Restriction on NI relief on salary sacrifice for pensions contributions (£2bn) - New 'mansion tax' see my earlier post (£1bn) - Maybe small changes ie increases to CGT and dividend tax but no obvious sign of this happening ditto IHT changes - 'Efficiencies' and the usual 'tax evasion clampdown' (£several bn)
And that's it
I don't think the 2 child cap will be lifted at least not in full. Fuel duty won't go up!
DYOR
Just hope they don't bring in general tax on betting wins.
I am really surprised governments haven't gone for at least those who make the bulk of their income from gambling. Lots of other governments have come up with stupid systems aimed at capping the amount of losses you can deduct etc, so that pro gambling end up paying income taxes e.g, Trumps big beautiful bill. The Greeks do it based on daily wins / losses.
EV mile tax is another fiddle around tax rather than actually govern.
Also reductions in hidden tax in energy bills in order to subsides heat pumps is another area for Treasury back slapping enjoyment on the day.
Going after EVs when you are also trying to get everybody into EVs by 2035....remember they added luxury car tax to EVs last time as well and congestion charge is getting added in Lodnon. £40k doesn't get you much car these days, a cheap Chinese EV. joined up thinking.
I'm not sure on that. If it keeps a bit of downward pressure on price and size, then so much the better.
Looking at my make - Skodas - all the ranges except the biggest electric SUV start at under 40k, and there are plenty between 20k and 30k, and hatchbacks down to £15k. That's all before discounts.
(They have a problem with the names, and the Electric models are on the whole physically huge. The models include Kamiq, Karoq, Kodiaq, Elroq, and Enyaq; someone put the ghost of Telly Savalas in the bloody computer.)
Except it hasnt. Luxury car tax came in 2017, average new car price is £50k now. Last few years up dramatically for a number of reasons. The UK favourite ICE car the Qashqai is now £40k if you spec it up a bit. And with Trump tariffs etc there is no downward pressure, just the Chinese selling at cost.
Some MAGA conspiracy theorists are arguing that Erika Kirk is a transman… Can we put the entirety of the US on a digital detox?
Unless they are arguing she is trying to transition to be a man (are they?), it would be the other way around.
Words change over time and the phrases used change as society's views change. This is particularly true of trans stuff post-SC as society adapts. So we have "male-to-female" (old school) or "trans woman" (pro-trans) or "trans femme" (gender ideology) or "biological male" (anti-trans) or "trans-identified-female" (gender critical) or even "biological male who identifies as a female" (BBC) or "trans woman, biological male" (SC ruling), and so on.
Words are fun 😀
Sorry, yes, they are arguing Erika is a transwoman.
This is quite concerning. NATOs Wedgetail (= AWACS replacement) programme has been afaics essentially killed by US withdrawal.
I'm not sure where this laves the UK.
NATO’s effort to replace its ageing E-3A Sentry fleet has been upended after the United States pulled out of the alliance’s planned purchase of up to six Boeing E-7 Wedgetails, leaving the programme without a strategic or financial anchor, the UK Defence Journal understands.
There is some logic to this. AWACS aircraft or their equivalents are very vulnerable during wartime, especially during the Baltic War we are all expecting. The US are moving towards satellite battlefield surveillance (right word?) making them redundant. But from a NATO point of view it's a bit of a bugger if the Americans don't turn up or refuse to share satellite data, so we (the non-US NATO) countries are in a bit of a bind.
Perhaps we are at last going to see some changes to the Council Tax scheme of local property taxation which has essentially been as the fly in amber since the heady days of 1991 when it was introduced, some might say as a panic measure, to replace the hated Poll Tax or wonderful Community Charge (depending on your political perspective and/or the impact on you financially).
The baseline revaluations and the charging apportionments have remained the same and the flaws which existed then have grown as property values have risen inexorably.
The argument for more bands at the high end is undeniable and may yet happen - in a sensible world, periodic tweaks to the apportionments and revaluations would have kept the system at least in touching distance with reality.
The Government's own figures on the stock of properties by Council Tax are illuminating:
6 million properties are in the lowest band, Band A, that means they were valued in 1991 at being less than £40k. Now, there may still be areas where properties can be found for that price (probably missing a few internal walls) but I bet there aren't 6 million.
Only 200,000 properties are in Band H (officially valued more than £350k). If anyone thinks there are only 200,000 properties in England worth more than £350k, I'll give you a clue - I'm in East Ham and I'm in one of them.
Appropriate banding now needs to be in place to allow for property values of up to £10 million and if that means not just a Band I but banding right through to Z so be it. It's going to be a major change and a lot of pain BUT it might just ease financial pressures on local Government and, if combined with an abolition of Stamp Duty, would politically shoot Kemi Badenoch's fox.
Tax on land also needs to be brought forward again perhaps combined with an easing of planning regulations.
- Freeze on thresholds to 2030 (worth £10bn) - New tax on some forms of gambling (£3bn) - Restriction on NI relief on salary sacrifice for pensions contributions (£2bn) - New 'mansion tax' see my earlier post (£1bn) - Maybe small changes ie increases to CGT and dividend tax but no obvious sign of this happening ditto IHT changes - 'Efficiencies' and the usual 'tax evasion clampdown' (£several bn)
And that's it
I don't think the 2 child cap will be lifted at least not in full. Fuel duty won't go up!
DYOR
Just hope they don't bring in general tax on betting wins.
I am really surprised governments haven't gone for at least those who make the bulk of their income from gambling. Lots of other governments have come up with stupid systems aimed at capping the amount of losses you can deduct etc, so that pro gambling end up paying income taxes e.g, Trumps big beautiful bill. The Greeks do it based on daily wins / losses.
EV mile tax is another fiddle around tax rather than actually govern.
Also reductions in hidden tax in energy bills in order to subsides heat pumps is another area for Treasury back slapping enjoyment on the day.
Going after EVs when you are also trying to get everybody into EVs by 2035....remember they added luxury car tax to EVs last time as well and congestion charge is getting added in Lodnon. £40k doesn't get you much car these days, a cheap Chinese EV. joined up thinking.
I'm not sure on that. If it keeps a bit of downward pressure on price and size, then so much the better.
Looking at my make - Skodas - all the ranges except the biggest electric SUV start at under 40k, and there are plenty between 20k and 30k, and hatchbacks down to £15k. That's all before discounts.
(They have a problem with the names, and the Electric models are on the whole physically huge. The models include Kamiq, Karoq, Kodiaq, Elroq, and Enyaq; someone put the ghost of Telly Savalas in the bloody computer.)
Except it hasnt. Luxury car tax came in 2017, average new car price is £50k now. Last few years up dramatically for a number of reasons. The UK favourite ICE car the Qashqai is now £40k if you spec it up a bit. And with Trump tariffs etc there is no downward pressure, just the Chinese selling at cost.
To me the average seems to be £40k or so, not £50k.
Let's assume Reform win a majority of 100 at the election. It won't last long.
Some will quit as MPs - "I didn't know being an MP meant having to go to London all week" Some will be exposed as Massive Racists (who knew) Some will be expelled for quabbling with the leader
And then we really do get chaos. Glorious, giggle inducing chaos...
- Freeze on thresholds to 2030 (worth £10bn) - New tax on some forms of gambling (£3bn) - Restriction on NI relief on salary sacrifice for pensions contributions (£2bn) - New 'mansion tax' see my earlier post (£1bn) - Maybe small changes ie increases to CGT and dividend tax but no obvious sign of this happening ditto IHT changes - 'Efficiencies' and the usual 'tax evasion clampdown' (£several bn)
And that's it
I don't think the 2 child cap will be lifted at least not in full. Fuel duty won't go up!
DYOR
Just hope they don't bring in general tax on betting wins.
I am really surprised governments haven't gone for at least those who make the bulk of their income from gambling. Lots of other governments have come up with stupid systems aimed at capping the amount of losses you can deduct etc, so that pro gambling end up paying income taxes e.g, Trumps big beautiful bill. The Greeks do it based on daily wins / losses.
EV mile tax is another fiddle around tax rather than actually govern.
Also reductions in hidden tax in energy bills in order to subsides heat pumps is another area for Treasury back slapping enjoyment on the day.
Going after EVs when you are also trying to get everybody into EVs by 2035....remember they added luxury car tax to EVs last time as well and congestion charge is getting added in Lodnon. £40k doesn't get you much car these days, a cheap Chinese EV. joined up thinking.
I'm not sure on that. If it keeps a bit of downward pressure on price and size, then so much the better.
Looking at my make - Skodas - all the ranges except the biggest electric SUV start at under 40k, and there are plenty between 20k and 30k, and hatchbacks down to £15k. That's all before discounts.
(They have a problem with the names, and the Electric models are on the whole physically huge. The models include Kamiq, Karoq, Kodiaq, Elroq, and Enyaq; someone put the ghost of Telly Savalas in the bloody computer.)
Except it hasnt. Luxury car tax came in 2017, average new car price is £50k now. Last few years up dramatically for a number of reasons. The UK favourite ICE car the Qashqai is now £40k if you spec it up a bit. And with Trump tariffs etc there is no downward pressure, just the Chinese selling at cost.
To me the average seems to be £40k or so, not £50k.
No, we did this the other day. The official figures are now that the average new car is £50k. I posted links.
So your argument seems to be you will drive a BYD or EV Skoda and be happy.
The whole idea was supposed to be EVs cost a bit more, but a) the government will provide a really good subsidsy so they are on par if not cheaper than an ICE vehicle, so you don't need to worry about base cost (remember most people buy on finance), no luxury car tax, no road tax and also no horrid congestion charges etc.
Now, even some Skoda EVs, but certainly the average car (which are ok cars but nobody would describe as luxury) could cost you £2.5k in luxury car tax, plus if true another £300-400 in this PPM (which will of course only go up in cost over the years), plus you have to pay congestion charge.
Those are nudges all in the wrong direction if your policy is to get eveybody in an EV by 2035. Most people who foot the upfront cost of the car on finance will more than likely just go fuck it, cost me same in luxury car tax, same in road tax, same in congestion car, might as well just get an ICE car that is cheaper upfront.
Let's assume Reform win a majority of 100 at the election. It won't last long.
Some will quit as MPs - "I didn't know being an MP meant having to go to London all week" Some will be exposed as Massive Racists (who knew) Some will be expelled for quabbling with the leader
And then we really do get chaos. Glorious, giggle inducing chaos...
That's looking at it from a parliamentary point of view. How about the point of view of the voters? If they'd voted in huge numbers for Reform policies, the Reform 'government' falls apart in short order, and what they get is (probably) a coalition of left-leaning parties cobbling together a government, isn't that going to replicate what happened with the Brexit referendum in spades?
"Asylum in UK to be made temporary under new plans
People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay temporarily under a policy shift the home secretary is expected to announce next week Shabana Mahmood will lay out reforms modelled on the Danish system on Monday which aim to make the UK less attractive for illegal immigrants, and make it easier to deport them. Refugee status will become temporary and subject to regular review under the planned changes, which will see refugees removed as soon as their home countries are deemed safe."
We await centrists stroking their chins and declaring this sensible, when they would have collapsed in paroxysms if the Tories had announced it.
Quite.
If they actually do it, it will prove (once again) that Nigel Farage is the most influential politician of the last 50 years, and also on a personal level, make me think my vote for Reform at the last election was worth it. He's moved the Overton window to an extraordinary degree.
I'd like Reform to win the next election, but if Labour want in enact most of their good ideas now, I'm all in favour.
Let's assume Reform win a majority of 100 at the election. It won't last long.
Some will quit as MPs - "I didn't know being an MP meant having to go to London all week" Some will be exposed as Massive Racists (who knew) Some will be expelled for quabbling with the leader
And then we really do get chaos. Glorious, giggle inducing chaos...
The Dad bit of the Centre-Rightist Dad in me thinks "chaos... that's almost the worst thing." It's why Dave's Cursèd Tweet of 2015 was so potent. (I'm not saying that I think EdM would be a good or popular PM, I'm just saying that giving him the job is worth a try.)
But...
Maybe the British government has been too good at keeping some sort of show on the road for too long. It's all pretty mediocre, crumbly and getting worse, but it hasn't fallen over. Meanwhile, everyone grumbles that they don't get enough from the state and that they pay too much tax.
We say we want the economy to grow, but the things that might help (drastic planning reform, not having people retire in their fifties, freeing up trade with nearby countries) are taboo so can only be hinted at.
Maybe we need a proper state collapse to knock some sense into us all. It will be awful to experience, and I'd much rather not, but sometimes humans need a massive crisis to be able to throw away beliefs that just don't work.
Comments
I'm not sure where this laves the UK.
NATO’s effort to replace its ageing E-3A Sentry fleet has been upended after the United States pulled out of the alliance’s planned purchase of up to six Boeing E-7 Wedgetails, leaving the programme without a strategic or financial anchor, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The Dutch Ministry of Defence confirmed that Washington withdrew from the AWACS replacement effort in July, prompting the Netherlands and several European partners to abandon the joint plan.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/nato-scraps-e-7-wedgetail-plan-as-allies-hunt-new-awacs/
Remember, Poppy Day is very, very, very important today in DM and DT land.
(But it always was important, as Armistice Day. And I don't blame real servicepeople and their families for being seriously offended. Quite the contrary.)
Words change over time and the phrases used change as society's views change. This is particularly true of trans stuff post-SC as society adapts. So we have "male-to-female" (old school) or "trans woman" (pro-trans) or "trans femme" (gender ideology) or "biological male" (anti-trans) or "trans-identified-female" (gender critical) or even "biological male who identifies as a female" (BBC) or "trans woman, biological male" (SC ruling), and so on.
Words are fun 😀
Perhaps we are at last going to see some changes to the Council Tax scheme of local property taxation which has essentially been as the fly in amber since the heady days of 1991 when it was introduced, some might say as a panic measure, to replace the hated Poll Tax or wonderful Community Charge (depending on your political perspective and/or the impact on you financially).
The baseline revaluations and the charging apportionments have remained the same and the flaws which existed then have grown as property values have risen inexorably.
The argument for more bands at the high end is undeniable and may yet happen - in a sensible world, periodic tweaks to the apportionments and revaluations would have kept the system at least in touching distance with reality.
The Government's own figures on the stock of properties by Council Tax are illuminating:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-tax-stock-of-properties-2024/council-tax-stock-of-properties-statistical-commentary
6 million properties are in the lowest band, Band A, that means they were valued in 1991 at being less than £40k. Now, there may still be areas where properties can be found for that price (probably missing a few internal walls) but I bet there aren't 6 million.
Only 200,000 properties are in Band H (officially valued more than £350k). If anyone thinks there are only 200,000 properties in England worth more than £350k, I'll give you a clue - I'm in East Ham and I'm in one of them.
Appropriate banding now needs to be in place to allow for property values of up to £10 million and if that means not just a Band I but banding right through to Z so be it. It's going to be a major change and a lot of pain BUT it might just ease financial pressures on local Government and, if combined with an abolition of Stamp Duty, would politically shoot Kemi Badenoch's fox.
Tax on land also needs to be brought forward again perhaps combined with an easing of planning regulations.
Some will quit as MPs - "I didn't know being an MP meant having to go to London all week"
Some will be exposed as Massive Racists (who knew)
Some will be expelled for quabbling with the leader
And then we really do get chaos. Glorious, giggle inducing chaos...
NEW THREAD
So your argument seems to be you will drive a BYD or EV Skoda and be happy.
The whole idea was supposed to be EVs cost a bit more, but a) the government will provide a really good subsidsy so they are on par if not cheaper than an ICE vehicle, so you don't need to worry about base cost (remember most people buy on finance), no luxury car tax, no road tax and also no horrid congestion charges etc.
Now, even some Skoda EVs, but certainly the average car (which are ok cars but nobody would describe as luxury) could cost you £2.5k in luxury car tax, plus if true another £300-400 in this PPM (which will of course only go up in cost over the years), plus you have to pay congestion charge.
Those are nudges all in the wrong direction if your policy is to get eveybody in an EV by 2035. Most people who foot the upfront cost of the car on finance will more than likely just go fuck it, cost me same in luxury car tax, same in road tax, same in congestion car, might as well just get an ICE car that is cheaper upfront.
I'd like Reform to win the next election, but if Labour want in enact most of their good ideas now, I'm all in favour.
But...
Maybe the British government has been too good at keeping some sort of show on the road for too long. It's all pretty mediocre, crumbly and getting worse, but it hasn't fallen over. Meanwhile, everyone grumbles that they don't get enough from the state and that they pay too much tax.
We say we want the economy to grow, but the things that might help (drastic planning reform, not having people retire in their fifties, freeing up trade with nearby countries) are taboo so can only be hinted at.
Maybe we need a proper state collapse to knock some sense into us all. It will be awful to experience, and I'd much rather not, but sometimes humans need a massive crisis to be able to throw away beliefs that just don't work.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781735503790/Right-Wing-Revolution-Beat-Woke-1735503797/plp