Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
I’m genuinely shocked that Davos is FILLED with thousands of journalists - Politico & Bloomberg have entire headquarters on the high street. And I was the only person to confront Witkoff about his Russia $ deals. The media is a completely broken club. https://x.com/CaolanReports/status/2014440773450650019
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
🚨 SUMMARY: The major policing reforms set to be outlined by the Home Secretary next week:
- The number of police forces in England and Wales will be cut from 43 to around 12 "mega forces" from 2034
Police Scotland has been quite a shambles up here and a definite step back from the regional forces we had before.
Plus, we all know that the Met SMT will demand to run the MegaForce that covers London. So we will have an even bigger version of the Met.
What could possibly go wrong?
I guess we’ll also say goodbye to the distinctive City of London police.
It wont happen. The target date is 2034.
Millions will be pissed up walls by consultants analysing this for the government and then dropped.
LOL.
2034...you are having a giraffe.....its like the claim of being "fighting ready by 2035".
Ajax, you say ?
Details regarding the safety of the Army’s Ajax armoured vehicles were withheld from ministers, a review has found. In a ministerial statement today, Luke Pollard said: “To say that I am angry… is an understatement.” 1/2
Mr Pollard continues: “It demonstrates that people were raising issues with this programme, but they were not being elevated to an appropriate level.”
If I was on the NEC I would just say no, as quickly as possible. I understand the argument for removing Kier but let's just play this out.
All the way to the by-election you've got stories about Labour splits, followed by a circus where everyone else is running and you've gone and made it a high-profile race. This will go on for - weeks? months? If Burnham loses you have all the Burnham-inclined people blaming it on the Starmer faction and any other faction and a whole load of enduring rancour that's probably even worse than if they just said "you've already got a job, you're not running". If he wins you then have a leadership contest which either Burnham wins and you have some rather sub-optimal non-Starmer leadership or Starmer wins but a load of his MPs have voted against him so he looks bad. This also makes it harder to replace him later if you actually need to do that.
Not to mention presumably you have a vacancy for Burnham's current job so you get the whole divisive circus again.
Just say no.
Don't underestimate the value of making the narrative all about them. When the alternative is being eclipsed on the left, on the right and in the centre, replicating the Tories from 2019-2024 might look like a good option.
If they can match Sunak's 23.7% in the next election, they'll be doing well.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Isn't the Bad Sex Prize for bad writing about sex, rather than writing about bad sex?
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
The key reform that will unlock all this growth is to decree that all the land in the country belongs to its local authority. For example all the land in Suffolk belongs to Suffolk County Council.
You should also underfund the local authorities but give them lots more responsibilities, for example make it their job to pay teachers but don't give them enough money to do that, so at any given time many teachers haven't been paid for months.
This gives them incredible incentives to cut through red tape and get stuff built.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Isn't the Bad Sex Prize for bad writing about sex, rather than writing about bad sex?
If I was on the NEC I would just say no, as quickly as possible. I understand the argument for removing Kier but let's just play this out.
All the way to the by-election you've got stories about Labour splits, followed by a circus where everyone else is running and you've gone and made it a high-profile race. This will go on for - weeks? months? If Burnham loses you have all the Burnham-inclined people blaming it on the Starmer faction and any other faction and a whole load of enduring rancour that's probably even worse than if they just said "you've already got a job, you're not running". If he wins you then have a leadership contest which either Burnham wins and you have some rather sub-optimal non-Starmer leadership or Starmer wins but a load of his MPs have voted against him so he looks bad. This also makes it harder to replace him later if you actually need to do that.
Not to mention presumably you have a vacancy for Burnham's current job so you get the whole divisive circus again.
Just say no.
I agree, there is no good outcome if Burnham stands.
If Burnham stands and wins Manchester becomes a fash-run region. So the NEC green lighting Burnham would be insane.
Talking of insane I'm watching Maria Bartiromo* low balling Trump post Davos and Trump failing to deal with Maria's low ball questions.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Surely a Tech Bro takes out his remarkable in a situation like that?
If I was on the NEC I would just say no, as quickly as possible. I understand the argument for removing Kier but let's just play this out.
All the way to the by-election you've got stories about Labour splits, followed by a circus where everyone else is running and you've gone and made it a high-profile race. This will go on for - weeks? months? If Burnham loses you have all the Burnham-inclined people blaming it on the Starmer faction and any other faction and a whole load of enduring rancour that's probably even worse than if they just said "you've already got a job, you're not running". If he wins you then have a leadership contest which either Burnham wins and you have some rather sub-optimal non-Starmer leadership or Starmer wins but a load of his MPs have voted against him so he looks bad. This also makes it harder to replace him later if you actually need to do that.
Not to mention presumably you have a vacancy for Burnham's current job so you get the whole divisive circus again.
Just say no.
I agree, there is no good outcome if Burnham stands.
If Burnham stands and wins Manchester becomes a fash-run region. So the NEC green lighting Burnham would be insane.
Talking of insane I'm watching Maria Bartiromo* low balling Trump post Davos and Trump failing to deal with Maria's low ball questions.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Surely a Tech Bro takes out his remarkable in a situation like that?
It's rather sad that I know a ReMarkable is a competitor to a Kindle.
If I was on the NEC I would just say no, as quickly as possible. I understand the argument for removing Kier but let's just play this out.
All the way to the by-election you've got stories about Labour splits, followed by a circus where everyone else is running and you've gone and made it a high-profile race. This will go on for - weeks? months? If Burnham loses you have all the Burnham-inclined people blaming it on the Starmer faction and any other faction and a whole load of enduring rancour that's probably even worse than if they just said "you've already got a job, you're not running". If he wins you then have a leadership contest which either Burnham wins and you have some rather sub-optimal non-Starmer leadership or Starmer wins but a load of his MPs have voted against him so he looks bad. This also makes it harder to replace him later if you actually need to do that.
Not to mention presumably you have a vacancy for Burnham's current job so you get the whole divisive circus again.
Just say no.
I don't really care what I'd do on the NEC (other than reevaluate my life choices) all I know is these odds for Starmer leaving in 2026 are crackers and in keeping with the point of site it's just a cracking cracking bet. And you can probably keep laying him at better than evens when this sort of opportunity occurs all the way till May.
Speculation already mounting that Zack Polanski could stand in the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton.
Would make sense if Burnham is barred from running. Greens are polling on 24% there currently, behind Labour on 29% and Reform on 27%. Considering national polling, wouldn’t be surprised if some progressive voters who would have backed Burnham, back Polanski when the time comes.
Would be worth doing even if Burnham does not run? Maybe he loses, but still a good profile and there's not really an expectation Greens would win in such a situation so no harm to his reputation (which is doing pretty well right now), and if Burnham did run and he still beat the great Labour hope, think of the blow to Labour morale?
Burnham would win it easily but if Polanski stands and Burnham is not allowed to could split the left of centre vote and let Reform win instead
It will demonstrate how organised a not Reform candidate can be - especially when it's a none of the above option.
If Burnham doesn't stand it will be essential that the Green Party get a poll demonstrating that it's only them that can beat Reform... As that poll is usually the catalyst for the rest of the vote to swing in the correct direction.
A danger for Starmer is that egregiously blocking Burnham turns this into a Reform/Green contest, with Labour squeezed out and him getting the blame. Not ideal. Probably better off letting Burnham get on with it.
Why would Starmer care about the Greens gaining one more seat if he survives?
Zack (Who is from Manchester) just put out this PPB.
If I were Starmer, I would be worried about him more than Burnham.
Not his best. Painting these bleak pictures is not a great idea in my opinion. He was much better when he went after racists. Something most of us could get behind.
A very keen observer of politics just messaged me about this by-election.
'Two words. George Galloway.'
Even an MP for Gorton and living in Malaysia will most likely visit both the HoC and his constituency more often than Farage has managed to find Parliament and Clacton.
Roger, he has to go because the media and the PB massiv hate him.
Take all the criticism of Starmer today about not yet banning under 16s from social media. The media are fully behind Badenoch's promotion of the idea.
Imagine if a Labour Government had promoted a nanny state banning of social media for children and the Conservatives were against it. The Government would be hung out to dry.
So damned if they do, damned if they don't.
FWIW I have no particular view on ban or no ban. However I'm probably more inclined to the Tory nanny state narrative rather than Labour's wait and see.
Starmer has to work on his strengths. He's starting to look like the grown up in the room. It's going to take a while but his opponents are starting to look pretty disparate. He needs to get a grip and choose a direction which he's sort of doing. He doesn't need to worry about media critics. Trump is inadvertently doing him a lot of good There's nothing like a common enemy to rally the troops
I wonder who the Fukkers will grace us with as a candidate for this by-election. Danczuk? That chavvy woman who got locked up for spouting shit on Twitter? Zahawi? The possibilities are endless and all shit.
The Ukrainians say that their 50 most effective drone units (out of 400) are responsible for 70% of successful strikes. The new Defence minister is determined to get the other 350 units up to scratch, and he's brought a long-time critic of the Defence ministry in to help him do it.
I wonder who the Fukkers will grace us with as a candidate for this by-election. Danczuk? That chavvy woman who got locked up for spouting shit on Twitter? Zahawi? The possibilities are endless and all shit.
The chav's still on tag. Does that prevent election with the post Bobby Sands reforms? IDK.
She's a southener though iirc so that should rule her out.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Isn't the Bad Sex Prize for bad writing about sex, rather than writing about bad sex?
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Isn't the Bad Sex Prize for bad writing about sex, rather than writing about bad sex?
If only pb had its own in-house novelist who has won a Bad Sex award. Oh wait... it does, and he features in viewcode's opus.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Isn't the Bad Sex Prize for bad writing about sex, rather than writing about bad sex?
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Surely a Tech Bro takes out his remarkable in a situation like that?
You need to capitalize Remarkable, and probably provide a link, so that that people know what you're talking about.
Given the scale of the US build up around Iran, one has to consider the old maxim that the amount and type of assets are notably in excess of that required for sabre rattling. You'd have to assume, therefore, that the intent is to use it.
What is the realistic play? Do a Maduro / Bin Laden style kidnapping or assassination?
I don't think Starmer's that ruthless: I think he'll just try and block the nomination.
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Surely a Tech Bro takes out his remarkable in a situation like that?
You need to capitalize Remarkable, and probably provide a link, so that that people know what you're talking about.
Remarkable is technology for those who can't work a sheet of scrap paper and a phone.
I just read DavidL's critique of Carney's speech on the last thread. He's got it spot on. He's right that Starmer's boasting about getting a 5% better deal than the Europeans wasn't something to boast about. It made him seem small
("Love Actually 2", written by Richard Curtis, coming to you Xmas 2026)
Go on. It would be nice to have 2 PBers with a Bad Sex award.
"...Trembling, Sunak reached up to unstrap her bra. "Cool!" thought Sunak: "I'm close to touching a boob! For the second time!". then he paused. "What's wrong?" said Reeves. "I'm worried this is outside my experiental set" he said, then paused again, bit his lip, then added "If only there was a Spectator writer with an implausibly large number of lovers who could advise". He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. "Hi. Yes, it's Rishi. You know how you owe me a favour after that drug charge? With the chickens and the suspenders? Yes, Farmer Savage was very cooperative, wasn't he? Well now it's payback..." and took the notepad out of his pyjama pocket and scribbled down notes. Reeves sighed and went to make herself a sandwich as the notes piled up..."
Surely a Tech Bro takes out his remarkable in a situation like that?
You need to capitalize Remarkable, and probably provide a link, so that that people know what you're talking about.
Well done Rishi. We all knew she was a very good player. it's good to know that without fanfares he is too. I've always liked Rishi except for the way he allowed himself to be pushed around by his Party's right wing
We seem to be losing sight of why this is happening.
Because a Labour MP was a twat and has had to resign..
The chances of this being anything but a Patrick Gordon Walker humiliation for Burnham, should he roll the dice, are slim.
Yes, I'd bet against him, too.
He's caught between the government being sufficiently unpopular to make a change of leader a serious possibility, and so unpopular that contesting even the safest seat for Labour in a by election risks humiliation.
And he needs a far better narrative for why he might stand, other than "I fancy the top job"(after getting over "not even thought about it")
Burnham has a big personal vote in Greater Manchester. He has won its Mayoralty multiple terms by landslides (even in 2021 when the Conservatives won the local elections NEV comfortably nationally Burnham was re elected with 67% of the vote) and would win this by election easily.
He is unlikely to get the chance though as it looks like Starmer and the NEC will impose a woke shortlist and exclude white men like Burnham as a result
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
Nowcast currently projects Gorton and Denton to be Labour 29.8%, Reform 26.9% and Green 24.1%, so a narrow Labour hold and that is on a UK wide forecast of just 86 Labour MPs
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
Nowcast currently projects Gorton and Denton to be Labour 29.8%, Reform 26.9% and Green 24.1%, so a narrow Labour hold and that is on a UK wide forecast of just 86 Labour MPs
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
Nowcast currently projects Gorton and Denton to be Labour 29.8%, Reform 26.9% and Green 24.1%, so a narrow Labour hold and that is on a UK wide forecast of just 86 Labour MPs
I just read DavidL's critique of Carney's speech on the last thread. He's got it spot on. He's right that Starmer's boasting about getting a 5% better deal than the Europeans wasn't something to boast about. It made him seem small
He still got it though. Carney for all his alleged brilliance as well as having higher tariffs on Canada from Trump than Starmer and the UK got has agreed to let lots more Chinese cars flood the Canadian market in return for a promise from Beijing to lower tariffs a bit on canola seeds
Sub-optimal result for the Greens in Cotswolds / The Rissingtons:
LD gain from Green
LD 321 Con 268 RefUK 221 Green 47
Lib Dem 37.5% (New) Conservative 31.3% (-12.1%) Reform 25.8% (New) Green 5.5% (-51.1%)
Yes Polanski is far too leftwing for the Cotswolds, rich Remainers there may be environmentally friendly and not great fans of Brexit but they aren't going to vote to see their expensive properties and cars and wealth and income hammered with tax either. Hence they have switched to Davey's LDs
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
According to his recent online media releases, George Galloway is currently in a different country somewhere to the east of the UK. Very cryptic
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
According to his recent online media releases, George Galloway is currently in a different country somewhere to the east of the UK. Very cryptic
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
Isn't he in Malaysia, and has vowed never to return to the UK?
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
According to his recent online media releases, George Galloway is currently in a different country somewhere to the east of the UK. Very cryptic
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
Isn't he in Malaysia, and has vowed never to return to the UK?
I didn't get it narrowed down that far in my research! Well he has stated on a Facebook video if he is elected to a UK based parliament he will return, but I guess he can't swear on a bible or take the oath in Malaysia
He refers to himself as a leader in exile
Edit: just checked, his wife has Indonesian background, so SE Asia makes sense
Well done Rishi. We all knew she was a very good player. it's good to know that without fanfares he is too. I've always liked Rishi except for the way he allowed himself to be pushed around by his Party's right wing
But, he lost. Again.
He has lost to Truss, Starmer, and now Rachel from Accounts.
I don’t want to be the one who links everything into haircuts all the time. But. This must have been a Davos fringe event?
I’ve only just come in from the shed, and showering before bed.
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
According to his recent online media releases, George Galloway is currently in a different country somewhere to the east of the UK. Very cryptic
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
Isn't he in Malaysia, and has vowed never to return to the UK?
I didn't get it narrowed down that far in my research! Well he has stated on a Facebook video if he is elected to a UK based parliament he will return, but I guess he can't swear on a bible or take the oath in Malaysia
He refers to himself as a leader in exile
Edit: just checked, his wife has Indonesian background, so SE Asia makes sense
Bit like saying his wife is Spanish, so Finland makes sense.
The Islam in Malaysia's a bit soft for him, I would have thought.
I note that @Andy_JS described the seat as barely winnable by Labour.
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
I think the Greens or an lefty independent could win it. The demographics aren't that great for Reform. There's also Galloway as TSE mentioned although he says he won't move back to the UK from Malaysia or wherever he is now.
According to his recent online media releases, George Galloway is currently in a different country somewhere to the east of the UK. Very cryptic
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
Isn't he in Malaysia, and has vowed never to return to the UK?
I didn't get it narrowed down that far in my research! Well he has stated on a Facebook video if he is elected to a UK based parliament he will return, but I guess he can't swear on a bible or take the oath in Malaysia
He refers to himself as a leader in exile
Edit: just checked, his wife has Indonesian background, so SE Asia makes sense
Bit like saying his wife is Spanish, so Finland makes sense.
The Islam in Malaysia's a bit soft for him, I would have thought.
I was meaning in the general terms of direction he has travelled, and both countries have a significant Muslim population?
Anyway, I cant see him getting voted in for Glasgow Southside in May (if he is still standing).
Be a right laugh trying to submit the airmiles for his expenses
“Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.” - President Donald J. Trump
“Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.” - President Donald J. Trump
Poland would have rather better cause to invoke Article 5, then. Given that the Belorussians actually flew in migrants from Iraq and Syria and then put them on buses to the Polish border.
“Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.” - President Donald J. Trump
Poland would have rather better cause to invoke Article 5, then. Given that the Belorussians actually flew in migrants from Iraq and Syria and then put them on buses to the Polish border.
Speculation already mounting that Zack Polanski could stand in the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton.
Would make sense if Burnham is barred from running. Greens are polling on 24% there currently, behind Labour on 29% and Reform on 27%. Considering national polling, wouldn’t be surprised if some progressive voters who would have backed Burnham, back Polanski when the time comes.
Would be worth doing even if Burnham does not run? Maybe he loses, but still a good profile and there's not really an expectation Greens would win in such a situation so no harm to his reputation (which is doing pretty well right now), and if Burnham did run and he still beat the great Labour hope, think of the blow to Labour morale?
Burnham would win it easily but if Polanski stands and Burnham is not allowed to could split the left of centre vote and let Reform win instead
It will demonstrate how organised a not Reform candidate can be - especially when it's a none of the above option.
If Burnham doesn't stand it will be essential that the Green Party get a poll demonstrating that it's only them that can beat Reform... As that poll is usually the catalyst for the rest of the vote to swing in the correct direction.
A danger for Starmer is that egregiously blocking Burnham turns this into a Reform/Green contest, with Labour squeezed out and him getting the blame. Not ideal. Probably better off letting Burnham get on with it.
Why would Starmer care about the Greens gaining one more seat if he survives?
That’s obvious. A high profile Green by-election win, and the prominence their dynamic new leader will get if he becomes an MP, is the worst possible start Labour could get to its May local election campaign and its hope of retaining control of all its strongholds in London and elsewhere.
I wonder who the Fukkers will grace us with as a candidate for this by-election. Danczuk? That chavvy woman who got locked up for spouting shit on Twitter? Zahawi? The possibilities are endless and all shit.
If they have any sense, someone who isn’t an obvious ex Tory. But that ‘if’ back there is doing some heavy lifting….
Well done Rishi. We all knew she was a very good player. it's good to know that without fanfares he is too. I've always liked Rishi except for the way he allowed himself to be pushed around by his Party's right wing
I've always liked him except for the way he was totally over-promoted and out of his depth in both of the big jobs he did.
He was a fairly competent junior minister and might have been ready in about a decade. But being Prime Minister is completely different from being a junior minister or running a quango, as the current incumbent is finding out. You don't just need administrative ability, you need a popular vision, and the ability to appoint colleagues who will deliver it, and take the public with you.
Well done Rishi. We all knew she was a very good player. it's good to know that without fanfares he is too. I've always liked Rishi except for the way he allowed himself to be pushed around by his Party's right wing
I've always liked him except for the way he was totally over-promoted and out of his depth in both of the big jobs he did.
He was a fairly competent junior minister and might have been ready in about a decade. But being Prime Minister is completely different from being a junior minister or running a quango, as the current incumbent is finding out. You don't just need administrative ability, you need a popular vision, and the ability to appoint colleagues who will deliver it, and take the public with you.
If you remember, he was lined up to be newly appointed to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury role - a mostly back office job he was suited for and probably would have done well - when Javed, about to be appointed Chancellor, justifiably got the hump at the attempt by Johnson and Cummings to take control of appointing his special advisors and fill those jobs with their own spies people. Javed refused to take the job under those unreasonable conditions, and then, the only way to avoid unpicking the whole reshuffle - which was already underway - was to put Rishi straight into Chancellor, later putting him in pole position for the top job when Johnson’s disreputable character and behaviour finally caught up with him.
Even then, Tory members wanted to give Loopy Liz first crack at being PM, before Rishi finally plopped into the big chair.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
Speculation already mounting that Zack Polanski could stand in the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton.
Would make sense if Burnham is barred from running. Greens are polling on 24% there currently, behind Labour on 29% and Reform on 27%. Considering national polling, wouldn’t be surprised if some progressive voters who would have backed Burnham, back Polanski when the time comes.
Would be worth doing even if Burnham does not run? Maybe he loses, but still a good profile and there's not really an expectation Greens would win in such a situation so no harm to his reputation (which is doing pretty well right now), and if Burnham did run and he still beat the great Labour hope, think of the blow to Labour morale?
Burnham would win it easily but if Polanski stands and Burnham is not allowed to could split the left of centre vote and let Reform win instead
It will demonstrate how organised a not Reform candidate can be - especially when it's a none of the above option.
If Burnham doesn't stand it will be essential that the Green Party get a poll demonstrating that it's only them that can beat Reform... As that poll is usually the catalyst for the rest of the vote to swing in the correct direction.
A danger for Starmer is that egregiously blocking Burnham turns this into a Reform/Green contest, with Labour squeezed out and him getting the blame. Not ideal. Probably better off letting Burnham get on with it.
Why would Starmer care about the Greens gaining one more seat if he survives?
That’s obvious. A high profile Green by-election win, and the prominence their dynamic new leader will get if he becomes an MP, is the worst possible start Labour could get to its May local election campaign and its hope of retaining control of all its strongholds in London and elsewhere.
Starmer won't see it that way.
He'll see that he's defeated a credible contender for his job as PM, so he can stay in office for 3 more years.
I wonder who the Fukkers will grace us with as a candidate for this by-election. Danczuk? That chavvy woman who got locked up for spouting shit on Twitter? Zahawi? The possibilities are endless and all shit.
Good morning from the golf, where for the first time in years I have my first 10,000 steps in before 11am. Might celebrate with a beer, as the tent just opened!
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
Isn't there pretty much always an inverse relationship between speed of infrastructure development and democracy?
So the Chinese could build railways, Stalin could do his 5 year plan, Hiltler build the Autobhans, Mussolini the new Railway stations, Louis Napoleon modern Paris, etc etc?
Good morning from the golf, where for the first time in years I have my first 10,000 steps in before 11am. Might celebrate with a beer, as the tent just opened!
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
I am obviously not blind to that and obviously an extreme example. Singapore certainly gets shit done without total loss of rights. The problem in the West we are at the other end of the extreme spectrum. Also, what I have noticed across the up and coming countries of Asia, shit get done daily, in terms of something is broken, fixed immediately. Then I flew back to the UK, Heathrow, first toilet I walk into broken (and clearly been broken for a while), and loads of other stuff just like that.
But you are also missing a point a little. They can build 10x high speed trains of everybody else not because of making people homeless or even working people 100hr weeks or even having to have a million people working at it, its because they have this huge drive to scale production efficiently. We see it in every industry they get good at, solar panels, wind turbines, drones and now cars and robots.
The way they build the physical trains (and the track), they have taken the car production line model and gone big. The US used to do that kind of thing last century in many areas, tech is the last remaining one. In Europe, our productivity is laughable bad. All other train makers are still making them in an incredibly inefficient manner.
Good morning from the golf, where for the first time in years I have my first 10,000 steps in before 11am. Might celebrate with a beer, as the tent just opened!
What course you playing?
I’m not good enough to be playing!
I guess I can ask if they’ll let me have a go, but my handicap was about 25 a couple of decades ago and I won’t have improved in the meantime.
Good morning from the golf, where for the first time in years I have my first 10,000 steps in before 11am. Might celebrate with a beer, as the tent just opened!
What course you playing?
I’m not good enough to be playing!
I guess I can ask if they’ll let me have a go, but my handicap was about 25 a couple of decades ago and I won’t have improved in the meantime.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
Isn't there pretty much always an inverse relationship between speed of infrastructure development and democracy?
So the Chinese could build railways, Stalin could do his 5 year plan, Hiltler build the Autobhans, Mussolini the new Railway stations, Louis Napoleon modern Paris, etc etc?
You can however go too far the other way, where a £40bn project gets delayed for a decade because someone claims to have found some not-particularly-rare newts on the site, then when they do build it there’s £100m bat tunnels.
For major infrastructure projects, the democratic oversight should be Parliament. The Bill gets passed, and spades go in the ground a fortnight later. Property in the way gets purchased with a 50-100% uplift. The Western world is strangling itself with process and lawyers.
Sub-optimal result for the Greens in Cotswolds / The Rissingtons:
LD gain from Green
LD 321 Con 268 RefUK 221 Green 47
Lib Dem 37.5% (New) Conservative 31.3% (-12.1%) Reform 25.8% (New) Green 5.5% (-51.1%)
Yes Polanski is far too leftwing for the Cotswolds, rich Remainers there may be environmentally friendly and not great fans of Brexit but they aren't going to vote to see their expensive properties and cars and wealth and income hammered with tax either. Hence they have switched to Davey's LDs
The Cotswolds is virtually a LibDem hegemony these days with only Geoff Clifton-Brown the holdout at Parliamentary level, and that due to personal popularity rather than party strength. The Rissingtons are close to his patch so this isn't a good sign for him.
The Greens do very well around Stroud which is an idiosyncratic place, twinned I believe with Middle Earth. Apart from that and parts of Bristol it's Yellow Peril as far as the eye can see.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
Unfortunately, what we nearly all want is JFDI for things we approve of, and review/delay/filibuster for things we don't approve of.
We just disagree on what ideas and projects should go in each category.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
Isn't there pretty much always an inverse relationship between speed of infrastructure development and democracy?
So the Chinese could build railways, Stalin could do his 5 year plan, Hiltler build the Autobhans, Mussolini the new Railway stations, Louis Napoleon modern Paris, etc etc?
You can however go too far the other way, where a £40bn project gets delayed for a decade because someone claims to have found some not-particularly-rare newts on the site, then when they do build it there’s £100m bat tunnels.
For major infrastructure projects, the democratic oversight should be Parliament. The Bill gets passed, and spades go in the ground a fortnight later. Property in the way gets purchased with a 50-100% uplift. The Western world is strangling itself with process and lawyers.
Yep except it’s Government and the Treasury who want things to be stopped and started on the turning of a dial.
If we want to deliver infrastructure projects you have a 10-20 year plan (at various levels of detail) a permanent pot of money, a permanent team of people and leave them to it.
We could do a lot of things far cheaper if we decided to do things and then left people to it
What the hell....They are doing $2 million a day in ticket alone now at ~$200 a pop, to watch the wizard of bloody oz.
The reimagining of the 1939 classic has now sold 2 million tickets since it bowed on Aug. 28 of last year, totaling more than $260 million in ticket sales, the company said Tuesday.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
I am obviously not blind to that and obviously an extreme example. Singapore certainly gets shit done without total loss of rights. The problem in the West we are at the other end of the extreme spectrum. Also, what I have noticed across the up and coming countries of Asia, shit get done daily, in terms of something is broken, fixed immediately. Then I flew back to the UK, Heathrow, first toilet I walk into broken (and clearly been broken for a while), and loads of other stuff just like that.
But you are also missing a point a little. They can build 10x high speed trains of everybody else not because of making people homeless or even working people 100hr weeks or even having to have a million people working at it, its because they have this huge drive to scale production efficiently. We see it in every industry they get good at, solar panels, wind turbines, drones and now cars and robots.
The way they build the physical trains (and the track), they have taken the car production line model and gone big. The US used to do that kind of thing last century in many areas, tech is the last remaining one. In Europe, our productivity is laughable bad. All other train makers are still making them in an incredibly inefficient manner.
Yes India is incredibly efficient and their trains notoriously hi tech and up to date
What the hell....They are doing $2 million a day in ticket alone now at ~$200 a pop, to watch the wizard of bloody oz.
The reimagining of the 1939 classic has now sold 2 million tickets since it bowed on Aug. 28 of last year, totaling more than $260 million in ticket sales, the company said Tuesday.
Sub-optimal result for the Greens in Cotswolds / The Rissingtons:
LD gain from Green
LD 321 Con 268 RefUK 221 Green 47
Lib Dem 37.5% (New) Conservative 31.3% (-12.1%) Reform 25.8% (New) Green 5.5% (-51.1%)
Yes Polanski is far too leftwing for the Cotswolds, rich Remainers there may be environmentally friendly and not great fans of Brexit but they aren't going to vote to see their expensive properties and cars and wealth and income hammered with tax either. Hence they have switched to Davey's LDs
The Cotswolds is virtually a LibDem hegemony these days with only Geoff Clifton-Brown the holdout at Parliamentary level, and that due to personal popularity rather than party strength. The Rissingtons are close to his patch so this isn't a good sign for him.
The Greens do very well around Stroud which is an idiosyncratic place, twinned I believe with Middle Earth. Apart from that and parts of Bristol it's Yellow Peril as far as the eye can see.
The seat was Green before not Tory, the Tories were second and the Tory and Reform vote combined was over 50%
What the hell....They are doing $2 million a day in ticket alone now at ~$200 a pop, to watch the wizard of bloody oz.
The reimagining of the 1939 classic has now sold 2 million tickets since it bowed on Aug. 28 of last year, totaling more than $260 million in ticket sales, the company said Tuesday.
Can we do anything in the UK without it taking 10 20 years....
500km of railway, 20+ years. China, 50000km, 10 years. They built a bloody 20 million person world class city from scratch in 30 years. Are we still talking about new garden cities (that aren't really new cities), haven't they been in the works for 15 years???
China isn't necessarily tge best example to follow. They have 80 million empty houses because they built far too many because it made the GDP figure go up; their trains ferry around a lot of empty air, and their infrastructure is quite fally-downy
If you don't like China, you can have Singapore.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
China gets stuff done by having no democracy, planning law, health & safety or environmental standards.
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
Isn't there pretty much always an inverse relationship between speed of infrastructure development and democracy?
So the Chinese could build railways, Stalin could do his 5 year plan, Hiltler build the Autobhans, Mussolini the new Railway stations, Louis Napoleon modern Paris, etc etc?
You can however go too far the other way, where a £40bn project gets delayed for a decade because someone claims to have found some not-particularly-rare newts on the site, then when they do build it there’s £100m bat tunnels.
For major infrastructure projects, the democratic oversight should be Parliament. The Bill gets passed, and spades go in the ground a fortnight later. Property in the way gets purchased with a 50-100% uplift. The Western world is strangling itself with process and lawyers.
And if there are no rare newts on the site I’m sure some can be happily relocated there by the NIMBYs.
It will be great to see Kemi slaughtering Labour if they do insist on an all BAME (I thought it was Global Majority now?) shortlist
I was doing some interviews for a management post last week. One of the candidates described herself as BAME spontaneously in the interview.
It's not a great descriptor, but it is a damn sight better than 'Global majority' which is just plain dumb.
Yes: there isn't a global majority, unless the argument is that all non-whites have something in common. Genetically, arguably the global majority is everyone not negroid.
BAME irritates me for two reasons: first, why did 'minority ethnic' suddenly become more correct than 'ethnic minority'? That's not hiw we construct English. And second, redundancy: "black" is an ethnic minority - so is covered already by the ME bit. It's almost exactly like Cheshire West amd Chester. Just "West Cheshire" would do.
Yes, its not a term that I would use. Neither would I use Global Majority.
But there are a number of similar curiosities. Using "Coloured People" is likely to end in disciplinary action but using "People of Colour" is fine and dandy.
The difference between those two is group vs individual
“People [who happen to be] of Colour” vs a group based segregation-associated classification
SNP 1167 44.3% -5.3% RUK 725 27.5% New Lab 413 15.7% -16.8% C 182 6.9% -4.7% LD 125 4.7% +0.9% SFP 25 0.9% New
Changes with 2022 election
No surprise with the result, but worrying for Mr Sarwar Slab are not making ground on the SNP/Reform
The changes are relative to 2022 though when Labour won the NEV rather than 2021 when Holyrood was last up and the Tories won the NEV. Note the SNP vote was also down
It will be great to see Kemi slaughtering Labour if they do insist on an all BAME (I thought it was Global Majority now?) shortlist
I was doing some interviews for a management post last week. One of the candidates described herself as BAME spontaneously in the interview.
It's not a great descriptor, but it is a damn sight better than 'Global majority' which is just plain dumb.
Yes: there isn't a global majority, unless the argument is that all non-whites have something in common. Genetically, arguably the global majority is everyone not negroid.
BAME irritates me for two reasons: first, why did 'minority ethnic' suddenly become more correct than 'ethnic minority'? That's not hiw we construct English. And second, redundancy: "black" is an ethnic minority - so is covered already by the ME bit. It's almost exactly like Cheshire West amd Chester. Just "West Cheshire" would do.
Yes, its not a term that I would use. Neither would I use Global Majority.
But there are a number of similar curiosities. Using "Coloured People" is likely to end in disciplinary action but using "People of Colour" is fine and dandy.
The difference between those two is group vs individual
“People [who happen to be] of Colour” vs a group based segregation-associated classification
The meaning is completely identical.
The door that is blue means the same as the blue door. It's just a currently accepted term and a currently frowned upon term even though they mean precisely the same thing.
What the hell....They are doing $2 million a day in ticket alone now at ~$200 a pop, to watch the wizard of bloody oz.
The reimagining of the 1939 classic has now sold 2 million tickets since it bowed on Aug. 28 of last year, totaling more than $260 million in ticket sales, the company said Tuesday.
Comments
I’m genuinely shocked that Davos is FILLED with thousands of journalists - Politico & Bloomberg have entire headquarters on the high street. And I was the only person to confront Witkoff about his Russia $ deals. The media is a completely broken club.
https://x.com/CaolanReports/status/2014440773450650019
.
"No longer in the role" is a bit of a giveaway.
Belle Vue Circus - Wikipedia https://share.google/oh7yj4bmAgvxDYoeP
I offer this fact free of charge for any political journalists ti torture into a metaphor.
https://youtu.be/AOtZMy9Sf_0?si=UpDBRYBvJ5PlC4Sz
(for info, no, I didn't attend Abbey Hey)
Emily Thornberry giving Trump both barrels...
If they can match Sunak's 23.7% in the next election, they'll be doing well.
"Everyone who heard about this was like: Hold on. Is he really going to ask the MI5 director to go jet skiing instead of meeting?"
From NYT deep-dive interviewing dozens of current and former FBI agents on Director Kash Patel:
https://x.com/RobbieGramer/status/2014392422294315370
"...His staff only cared about three things.: what his meals were, when his workouts would be, and what his entertainment would be.."
You should also underfund the local authorities but give them lots more responsibilities, for example make it their job to pay teachers but don't give them enough money to do that, so at any given time many teachers haven't been paid for months.
This gives them incredible incentives to cut through red tape and get stuff built.
But having been in China for a month, I can tell you for instance "trains ferry a lot of empty air" isn't true, certainly not in Eastern China. The 1000 person trains were full. And the bullet trains are miles ahead of the rest of the world now in every aspect and they can make more in a year than the rest of the world combined x10. They have production lined train manufacture in a similar way to cars, but in a way no other company has. The train lines in the far north are the criticism for empty air, but it kinda of irrevelant in the grand scheme. There is politics / "control" in play, but also engineering testing for high speed in very cold temps and high desert, as they are exporting high speed to rest of the world now.
I think a lot of the poor quality stuff ends up being linked to corruption in lower tier cities. The Tier 1 cities are better than basically every Western city now.
Yes China keep their GDP up by doing effectively Keynsian ecomics of building in the down times and have overbuilt housing. But the point was they get shit done....the West, particularly the UK, don't get shit done, its more shit stuff gets done.
https://x.com/DesmondSwayne/status/2013979613609828684?s=20
(unclear to me what syntax is for sharing this properly and I'm too lazy to check, but it says):
Needless to say I was disgusted by what they reposted and passwords were changed immediately.
Thank you everyone who highlighted this so rapidly.
The offending "bizzare share":
Talking of insane I'm watching Maria Bartiromo* low balling Trump post Davos and Trump failing to deal with Maria's low ball questions.
*Is Maria real or a Simpsons cartoon?
But I suppose it makes a four-way split in the vote possible. So there is that.
Burnham. Galloway. Polanski. Yusuf?
They need to urgently add the earlier 15 minutes or so back on, and slow everything down.
She's a southener though iirc so that should rule her out.
Too late now.
He is unlikely to get the chance though as it looks like Starmer and the NEC will impose a woke shortlist and exclude white men like Burnham as a result
I therefore assume Labour can’t win it unless Burnham is candidate, otherwise it’s for Reform, or possibly Greens if with the right candidate.
https://electionmaps.uk/nowcast
LD gain from Green
LD 321
Con 268
RefUK 221
Green 47
Lib Dem 37.5% (New)
Conservative 31.3% (-12.1%)
Reform 25.8% (New)
Green 5.5% (-51.1%)
Reform UK gain from Lab
Reform UK 160
Ind Caruana 138
Ind Rule 135
Lab 87
Flintshire People's Voice 79
LD 68
Con 34
Ind Owen 17
Reform UK 22.28%
Ind Caruana 19.22%
Ind Rule 18.80%
Lab 12.12%
Flintshire People's Voice 11.00%
LD 9.47%
Con 4.74%
Ind Owen 2.37%
He remains a list candidate for the Workers party of Great Britain for the forthcoming Holyrood election, ranked 2nd on the Glasgow list (behind his sister).
It doesn't look like Burnham will get the nod from Lab HQ to stand if he wanted to, which is just as well for him as UK politics are too volatile for Gorton to be considered a reasonably safe Labour hold right now
He refers to himself as a leader in exile
Edit: just checked, his wife has Indonesian background, so SE Asia makes sense
He has lost to Truss, Starmer, and now Rachel from Accounts.
I don’t want to be the one who links everything into haircuts all the time. But. This must have been a Davos fringe event?
I’ve only just come in from the shed, and showering before bed.
The Islam in Malaysia's a bit soft for him, I would have thought.
Anyway, I cant see him getting voted in for Glasgow Southside in May (if he is still standing).
Be a right laugh trying to submit the airmiles for his expenses
“Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.” - President Donald J. Trump
Glenrothes West and Kinglassie - SNP hold
First prefs
SNP 1167 44.3% -5.3%
RUK 725 27.5% New
Lab 413 15.7% -16.8%
C 182 6.9% -4.7%
LD 125 4.7% +0.9%
SFP 25 0.9% New
Changes with 2022 election
No surprise with the result, but worrying for Mr Sarwar Slab are not making ground on the SNP/Reform
The Belorussians are on the Board of Peace.
Silly me.
He was a fairly competent junior minister and might have been ready in about a decade. But being Prime Minister is completely different from being a junior minister or running a quango, as the current incumbent is finding out. You don't just need administrative ability, you need a popular vision, and the ability to appoint colleagues who will deliver it, and take the public with you.
Even then, Tory members wanted to give Loopy Liz first crack at being PM, before Rishi finally plopped into the big chair.
Labour's vote share dropped 48.5%
Labour in real trouble in Wales
https://x.com/i/status/2014507697626853831
If they want to build something, they'll move you out of your house in 24 hrs - no questions- then bulldoze it, and they don't really care how many die in building the new stuff.
If you take that attitude, you can get quite a lot done quite quickly with an authoritarian state.
But would you want to live in one?
He'll see that he's defeated a credible contender for his job as PM, so he can stay in office for 3 more years.
Rob Key set to keep job but Brendon McCullum’s future in balance
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/cricket/article/rob-key-brendon-mccullum-england-job-ashes-vh9v9fs7l
So the Chinese could build railways, Stalin could do his 5 year plan, Hiltler build the Autobhans, Mussolini the new Railway stations, Louis Napoleon modern Paris, etc etc?
But you are also missing a point a little. They can build 10x high speed trains of everybody else not because of making people homeless or even working people 100hr weeks or even having to have a million people working at it, its because they have this huge drive to scale production efficiently. We see it in every industry they get good at, solar panels, wind turbines, drones and now cars and robots.
The way they build the physical trains (and the track), they have taken the car production line model and gone big. The US used to do that kind of thing last century in many areas, tech is the last remaining one. In Europe, our productivity is laughable bad. All other train makers are still making them in an incredibly inefficient manner.
I guess I can ask if they’ll let me have a go, but my handicap was about 25 a couple of decades ago and I won’t have improved in the meantime.
https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/hero-dubai-desert-classic-2026/leaderboard?round=2
For major infrastructure projects, the democratic oversight should be Parliament. The Bill gets passed, and spades go in the ground a fortnight later. Property in the way gets purchased with a 50-100% uplift. The Western world is strangling itself with process and lawyers.
Trump Revokes Canada's Invitation to Board of Peace.
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/3779793-trump-revokes-canadas-invitation-to-board-of-peace
The Greens do very well around Stroud which is an idiosyncratic place, twinned I believe with Middle Earth. Apart from that and parts of Bristol it's Yellow Peril as far as the eye can see.
TikTok closes deal with White House to split US app from global business
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp374n3ggngt
T&Cs will be interesting....
We just disagree on what ideas and projects should go in each category.
If we want to deliver infrastructure projects you have a 10-20 year plan (at various levels of detail) a permanent pot of money, a permanent team of people and leave them to it.
We could do a lot of things far cheaper if we decided to do things and then left people to it
The reimagining of the 1939 classic has now sold 2 million tickets since it bowed on Aug. 28 of last year, totaling more than $260 million in ticket sales, the company said Tuesday.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wizard-of-oz-sphere-hits-260-million-ticket-sales-1236478438/
“People [who happen to be] of Colour” vs a group based segregation-associated classification
The door that is blue means the same as the blue door. It's just a currently accepted term and a currently frowned upon term even though they mean precisely the same thing.
Good morning, my fellow bettors of politics.
And if you resist they call on the Brusque Nuclear Constabulary for assistance