AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in the UK, has just announced it will invest $15bn in China until 2030. The pharmaceutical company says the investment will be used to expand medicines, manufacturing and research and development.
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
He was, but he do go (temporarily, hopefully) mad about Brexit. I note that his partner didn't die because Boris turned his medication away at Dover...
Which was a particularly weird thing to worry about because ISTR that the medication in question was actually manufactured here in the UK or generics from India for which Brexit made precisely zero difference. It just became this unarguable point for him that he used to silence other people and unsurprisingly in the rough and tumble of PB debate not everyone appreciated it.
Does it come to this? We can’t afford a future, we are completely consumed with what we can have right now. We’re entitled. Somehow.
This infuriates me. It is immensely short sighted. We are selling out our children's future.
We've spent all the money, we have buried the country under debt, we have forced them to pay through the nose for a sub par education which they will be paying for for most of their working life, we have done our best to take the housing ladder away from them and now we cannot be bothered even giving them some hope for a future.
It is typically short sighted that we haven't reflected about who will be choosing our nursing homes in due course. Or what other amendments could be made to the current bill for that matter.
The UK was once a country with a welfare state.
Now its a welfare state with a country.
By (western) European standards our welfare spending is unremarkable.
Thanks for proving my point that someone will always rush to say that some other country spends more on welfare and so the UK's welfare spending is not a problem.
The UK spends too much on welfare.
Most other first world countries spend too much on welfare.
The only variants are the precise ways, the magnitudes and the speeds which those countries are damaging themselves.
It's not 'some other country' it's several of our peers. I wouldn't disagree that it's a problem but 'welfare state with country attached' is neither fair nor illuminating.
Santander is closing a further 44 branches, putting 291 jobs at risk.
It is the latest swathe of closures by the Spanish-owned bank which, like others on the high street, is closing bricks-and-mortar stores as customers move online.
Last year, it announced plans to close 95, or a quarter, of its branches which had 750 workers. Lloyds Bank is also planning to shut more than 100 branches by March under a scheme of closures announced last year.
Given that we still have a Lloyds and Halifax within 50 yards of each other there are still a fair number of Lloyds / Halifax / BoS branches that could be merged
Does it come to this? We can’t afford a future, we are completely consumed with what we can have right now. We’re entitled. Somehow.
This infuriates me. It is immensely short sighted. We are selling out our children's future.
We've spent all the money, we have buried the country under debt, we have forced them to pay through the nose for a sub par education which they will be paying for for most of their working life, we have done our best to take the housing ladder away from them and now we cannot be bothered even giving them some hope for a future.
It is typically short sighted that we haven't reflected about who will be choosing our nursing homes in due course. Or what other amendments could be made to the current bill for that matter.
The UK was once a country with a welfare state.
Now its a welfare state with a country.
By (western) European standards our welfare spending is unremarkable.
Thanks for proving my point that someone will always rush to say that some other country spends more on welfare and so the UK's welfare spending is not a problem.
The UK spends too much on welfare.
Most other first world countries spend too much on welfare.
The only variants are the precise ways, the magnitudes and the speeds which those countries are damaging themselves.
Both points are important. Comparison with comparable countries matters. It's one of the ways of measuring what is realistically possible given the historical context we are in. But our collective weaknesses should not allow overlooking our collective strengths; which include a powerfully strong work ethic and desire to get on among the great majority of all ages.
SFAICS the only big western exception to our sort of levels of state managed expenditure is the USA. The USA has many things to emulate, but, for example, we should also ask: Is there a relation between USA welfarism generally and the fact that they have a prison population of 1,800,000.
The USA spends even more on welfare, its difference is that much of it is obligatory individual and business spending.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
Ah well yes - village raffle for pots of homemade jam, different thing entirely.
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
He was, but he do go (temporarily, hopefully) mad about Brexit. I note that his partner didn't die because Boris turned his medication away at Dover...
Which was a particularly weird thing to worry about because ISTR that the medication in question was actually manufactured here in the UK or generics from India for which Brexit made precisely zero difference. It just became this unarguable point for him that he used to silence other people and unsurprisingly in the rough and tumble of PB debate not everyone appreciated it.
Sometimes lawyers think technicalities work outside the courtroom. Luckily most of PB's lawyers are better than that.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
China will "actively consider" implementing unilateral visa-free entry for UK citizens, said President Xi
There are already 48 countries who have this.
If Kier could swing that for me I would be very grateful. Right now I have to make elaborate plans to leave for a different country than the one I arrive from so they count me as transit. Meanwhile Japanese people can just breeze in and out at will despite China being really mad at Japan over Taiwan and revoking its panda privileges.
AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in the UK, has just announced it will invest $15bn in China until 2030. The pharmaceutical company says the investment will be used to expand medicines, manufacturing and research and development.
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
I worked in ICI for many years, before I was demerged into Zeneca, then merged with Astra, then spun out into Syngenta and then taken over by Sinochem Holdings Corporation Ltd., which is fully controlled by the Chinese government's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission which now pays my inflation proof final salary pension, which I've been on for over thirty years. Dizzying. And a little worrying. I'm glad China believes in a rules based order.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
What is it?
Peter Thiel / Palantir is new obsession. She has got funded along for some online journalism site that wheeled out loads of famous names to say they would be involved and instead it has just a 20 articles in 6 months.
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
He was, but he do go (temporarily, hopefully) mad about Brexit. I note that his partner didn't die because Boris turned his medication away at Dover...
Which was a particularly weird thing to worry about because ISTR that the medication in question was actually manufactured here in the UK or generics from India for which Brexit made precisely zero difference. It just became this unarguable point for him that he used to silence other people and unsurprisingly in the rough and tumble of PB debate not everyone appreciated it.
Possibly not helped by some of our more strident leavers appearing not to care if it did happen!
Gift link so no paywall. Note to Kemi's PMQs team: your lot were in charge.
A quick scan suggests that the data may not be entirely robust, rather like the FON poll.
"Undeveloped or developing countries are less likely to carry out as many medical procedures or treatments as in the UK, while the accuracy of reporting incidents may not be as robust."
Reported in the Telegraph and quoted by Leon - two massive red flags in terms of the likely accuracy of this study.
The report no doubt finds areas that need improvement. The problem is the Telegraph has splashed the misleading comparison with Sudan. It is absurd as pb wondering if Keir is taller than Boris.
China will "actively consider" implementing unilateral visa-free entry for UK citizens, said President Xi
There are already 48 countries who have this.
If Kier could swing that for me I would be very grateful. Right now I have to make elaborate plans to leave for a different country than the one I arrive from so they count me as transit. Meanwhile Japanese people can just breeze in and out at will despite China being really mad at Japan over Taiwan and revoking its panda privileges.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
The people who have to attend hundreds of these things for professional reasons - mostly politicians - can well afford the cost, might win a box of chocolates, and will create goodwill out of all proportion to the effort. The world of small raffles lacks irony, is kind and has a long memory. And they all vote.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
The people who have to attend hundreds of these things for professional reasons - mostly politicians - can well afford the cost, might win a box of chocolates, and will create goodwill out of all proportion to the effort. The world of small raffles lacks irony, is kind and has a long memory. And they all vote.
So long as you don't claim them back on expenses, like one MP famously did.
Gift link so no paywall. Note to Kemi's PMQs team: your lot were in charge.
A quick scan suggests that the data may not be entirely robust, rather like the FON poll.
"Undeveloped or developing countries are less likely to carry out as many medical procedures or treatments as in the UK, while the accuracy of reporting incidents may not be as robust."
Reported in the Telegraph and quoted by Leon - two massive red flags in terms of the likely accuracy of this study.
The report no doubt finds areas that need improvement. The problem is the Telegraph has splashed the misleading comparison with Sudan. It is absurd as pb wondering if Keir is taller than Boris.
As a seasoned traveller I assume that Leon will be heading to Sudan for any medical treatment in future?
This is like comparing US and UK cancer survival rates without accounting for the different proportion of untreated people.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
What is it?
Peter Thiel / Palantir is new obsession. She has got funded along for some online journalism site that wheeled out loads of famous names to say they would be involved and instead it has just a 20 articles in 6 months.
Given how ID checks, KYC, and AML checks are standard in the banking industry and not a sign of guilt, this is going to be spectacular.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
What is it?
Peter Thiel / Palantir is new obsession. She has got funded along for some online journalism site that wheeled out loads of famous names to say they would be involved and instead it has just a 20 articles in 6 months.
Given how ID checks, KYC, and AML checks are standard in the banking industry and not a sign of guilt, this is going to be spectacular.
Well somebody is going to be smashing their billable hours targets....
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I bought a few raffle tickets at Bromsgrove Wetherspoons abour a week ago, first time I'd bought any for ages. It was to support a staff member who was raising money for charity iirc. Almost forgotten about the existence raffle tickets until then.
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
Yes. may be have him back please? And David Herdson.
Both post regularly on BlueSky. I follow them both, and they are as well-informed as ever.
This is my regular reminder that there is a PoliticalBetting Bluesky starter pack which collates many political bettors, including Messrs Meeks and Herdson. You can find it here: https://bsky.app/profile/mattwardman.bsky.social (click on the "Starter Packs" tab)
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
This is "The Citizens" * ? I'm not sure what her models are - Citizens United in the USA perhaps, who have been involved in addressing manipulation of their voting system.
Did she pay her costs order wrt Arron Banks? Was that not a couple of million?
At a brief look, they seem to be going for "big tech", including claims that the UK Govt are trying to drive AI into everything unchecked. I'm not sure on that, given that the UK Govt, with others, have taken on Grok and Musk.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
Will Muslim voters do Greens? Or can they actually do well because they can pump up the Gaza stuff?
Absolutely, it can be done. I know I have mentioned the Green party 26% second place result in Huddersfield at GE24 numerous times (and, indeed, predicted it), but it is an object lesson in how the Green party can build a coalition from students, a local politics base and Muslim Gaza concern, where the Greens are considered sound.
In Huddersfield they originally built a local base in my own part studenty part working class and lightly Muslim ward some years ago, capturing both students and increasing numbers of local voters. They'd made only slight progress outside the ward, but that flipped by their Gaza friendly stance in two neighbouring more heavily Muslim wards in LE 2024, winning one and losing one ward to Labour on a split Green / Ind vote.
Actually, that loss might have been influential for the GE result, Muslim community groups rowed in heavily behind the Greens and there were no Independent or WP candidates as a result.
Now, obviously Muslim voters aren't wholly a monolithic bloc, although often more in the sense that Liverpool Walton is not a monolithic bloc, rather than some 4-way marginal not being, so a wider coalition of Green voters would clearly be needed in most places.
Anyhow, I do see a lot of conditions present in Gorton and Denton that mirror Huddersfield - some local strength, a student base, Muslim community groups being onside, and the good possibility of attracting some of the more left leaning Denton voters with their strength elsewhere. They are less far along in getting the Worker's Party, who also have some strength, in packing up shop, but on their plus side, Labour are much more unpopular now, and I feel the window for Reform to come down the middle of the Labour/Green vote is a bit lower in Gorton and Denton than it would be in Huddersfield.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Kemi's current conclusion - that the Tory party should take over Reform anti-centrist mantle and mock traditional Conservatism -seems to me an extraordinary mistake.
Proper Reform voters won't vote for Reform lite Tories, and the millions they have lost to DK, NOTA, LD, Labour etc certainly won't. Roughly half of all voters prefer to vote Right Of Centre. There is massive space for a competent Burkean, culturally coherent, intelligent Tory party with a front bench who look and act the part and appear to know a lot about where we have come from historically, and where we might intelligently aim next.
Being a more competent Reform type party won't do. Current Reform voters have little interest in competence or policy, except on migration and re-migration. As they will come to realise if they succeed, they want to both break everything and keep all the nice free stuff the same. Can't be done. Ask any intelligent Republican.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
This is "The Citizens" * ? I'm not sure what her models are - Citizens United in the USA perhaps, who have been involved in addressing manipulation of their voting system.
Did she pay her costs order wrt Arron Banks? Was that not a couple of million?
At a brief look, they seem to be going for "big tech", including claims that the UK Govt are trying to drive AI into everything unchecked. I'm not sure on that, given that the UK Govt, with others, have taken on Grok and Musk.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Their candidate for London mayor was on Triggernometry podcast last week. She interviewed well, except for the question about a load of Tory failures jointing the party. Her view is that anyone can join, the hosts did press her on the point but could have gone further, for example asking what if ‘Tommy’ wanted to join?
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Their candidate for London mayor was on Triggernometry podcast last week. She interviewed well, except for the question about a load of Tory failures jointing the party. Her view is that anyone can join, the hosts did press her on the point but could have gone further, for example asking what if ‘Tommy’ wanted to join?
I think the argument is a load of old nonsense personally.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
China will "actively consider" implementing unilateral visa-free entry for UK citizens, said President Xi
There are already 48 countries who have this.
If Kier could swing that for me I would be very grateful. Right now I have to make elaborate plans to leave for a different country than the one I arrive from so they count me as transit. Meanwhile Japanese people can just breeze in and out at will despite China being really mad at Japan over Taiwan and revoking its panda privileges.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Their candidate for London mayor was on Triggernometry podcast last week. She interviewed well, except for the question about a load of Tory failures jointing the party. Her view is that anyone can join, the hosts did press her on the point but could have gone further, for example asking what if ‘Tommy’ wanted to join?
I think the argument is a load of old nonsense personally.
I tend to agree, and think that the argument against is countered by the political experience in former government ministers they are getting to join the party. But it’s a valid critisism, and Reform spokespeople need to have an answer to it.
I suspect they are not yet as ‘on-message’ and disciplined as they will need to be during the election campaign, although they’ll probably say it’s a good thing that they’re a group of talented individuals and not ‘group-thinkers’.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
Yes. may be have him back please? And David Herdson.
Both post regularly on BlueSky. I follow them both, and they are as well-informed as ever.
This is my regular reminder that there is a PoliticalBetting Bluesky starter pack which collates many political bettors, including Messrs Meeks and Herdson. You can find it here: https://bsky.app/profile/mattwardman.bsky.social (click on the "Starter Packs" tab)
There are still spaces if anyone wants to be added.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
AI is being presented as bringing average up to excellent. Its core advantage - at present at least - is bringing poor up to average-plus.
(So experts can't understand its value and normies think it's great.)
I must say that I miss @AlastairMeeks contributions below the line greatly. One of our best contributors.
Yes. may be have him back please? And David Herdson.
Both post regularly on BlueSky. I follow them both, and they are as well-informed as ever.
This is my regular reminder that there is a PoliticalBetting Bluesky starter pack which collates many political bettors, including Messrs Meeks and Herdson. You can find it here: https://bsky.app/profile/mattwardman.bsky.social (click on the "Starter Packs" tab)
There are still spaces if anyone wants to be added.
I cannot quite get my head around these numbers. It looks like a reduction over 4 years, but since there is a "record funding settlement" how much of this is a cut of a future increase? Or, following the article, an unaffordable increase agreed in 2022?
And I thought "throw more money at it" rather than eg "sack the public sector bureaucrats" was an argument which is frowned upon.
I'd hope for a bit more clarity from a professional research news site.
A UKRI spokesperson said: “Following a spending review, which gave UKRI a record four-year settlement, curiosity driven research will continue to make up around 50 per cent of our funding. UKRI will remain the guardian of curiosity driven research.
“That doesn’t preclude changes at programme or research council level as UKRI makes choices, to be in the best position to deliver on its mission to advance knowledge, change lives and drive growth. This includes taking difficult decisions now.
"STFC’s budget faces particular pressures due to its growing cost base—driven by unforeseeable developments since setting ambitious goals in its 2022 delivery plan, which are no longer affordable. This means that STFC needs to find savings from within its allocation. STFC is actively working with its Science Board and community to make the choices about how these savings are realised, and so put STFC on a sustainable footing."
AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in the UK, has just announced it will invest $15bn in China until 2030. The pharmaceutical company says the investment will be used to expand medicines, manufacturing and research and development.
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
Given the propensity of Chinese factories to steal Western IP and flood the market with fakes, why would a pharma company want to invest in research or manufacturing there? The Chinese market will happily allow the ‘generics’ to dominate domestically, well outside any enforceable Western IP law.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
Enough already ! How long will we have to put up with Burnham milking this ? If your sole purpose to enter the Commons is to challenge the leadership and cause months of non stop press speculation then he needs to suck it up and stop whining now that it blew up in his face . Originally I thought he should have been allowed to stand , now he’s getting on my nerves with this martyrdom complex and I’m glad he was stopped.
Hitherto, Reform was immune from most attacks, but the current one - that's it's now a members club for nasty old Tory failures - does seem to be getting traction. I'm surprised Nigel allowed it.
Their candidate for London mayor was on Triggernometry podcast last week. She interviewed well, except for the question about a load of Tory failures jointing the party. Her view is that anyone can join, the hosts did press her on the point but could have gone further, for example asking what if ‘Tommy’ wanted to join?
I think the argument is a load of old nonsense personally.
I tend to agree, and think that the argument against is countered by the political experience in former government ministers they are getting to join the party. But it’s a valid critisism, and Reform spokespeople need to have an answer to it.
I suspect they are not yet as ‘on-message’ and disciplined as they will need to be during the election campaign, although they’ll probably say it’s a good thing that they’re a group of talented individuals and not ‘group-thinkers’.
Reform have to navigate a totally different dynamic in regard to defections. In the good old days, a defection meant that your opponent had lurched to the unpalatable extremes, while you were the very embodiment of big-tent politics. But Reform need to be the inversion of big-tentism - for them the big tent means the cosy consensus that brought the nation to its knees and needs to be mercilessly swept aside. Reform must be seen as untainted by all that went before. They must glow with a kind of nascent purity.
I see Carole Codswallop has got a new bogeyman. I hope the backers of her new venture have deep pockets for the inevitable crazy amount of lawyers being required to be on retainer.
What is it?
Peter Thiel / Palantir is new obsession. She has got funded along for some online journalism site that wheeled out loads of famous names to say they would be involved and instead it has just a 20 articles in 6 months.
Going after someone who’s famously litigious and has very deep pockets is somewhat brave, as Sir Humphrey might say.
Especially if you have a long record of factual errors in investigative reporting, and numerous corrections to your articles.
Xi smiling broadly as he shakes Starmer's hand ahead of their talks. The Chinese have always liked dull, serious and bureaucratic UK PMs. Ted Heath was always very popular with the Chinese, also like Starmer far more than he was with UK voters "UK and China must build 'more sophisticated relationship', Starmer tells Xi - live updates - BBC News" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly9p5kr2q7t
Starmer making his visit to China all about the "cost of living" in the UK shows him to be deeply unserious about geopolitics
Notwithstanding his general incompetence, Starmer's so far uneventful trip to China has elicited invective from PB's finest for promoting trade and being smaller than a toy bear.
Starmer stands at a diminutive 5ft 9. The same height as the statuesque Johnson.
yes we cannot wait to get those dinghy engine parts on Ali Express, what a Titan.
I thought that he was trying to get the Chinese to stop selling engines which could be useful to people-smugglers to such people.
Incidentally, since the craft, and their engines are abandoned when they arrive in Kent, what happens to the engines etc? Are they sold on the secondhand market (please say no!) or are they scrapped?
During the anti-slavery patrols on the coast of Africa, the RN realised that seized ships, sold at auction were being bought by slavers.
The sales funded the prize money for the RN crews.
With Victorian practicality, they reverted to burning/dismantling captured ships and funded the prize money from the Estimates.
I’ll bet we are auctioning the boats. And that memos about having seized the same boat 8 times have been going up and down and round…
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
The guys lugging the marble top reminds me when we had the top delivered for our kitchen island. Two parts, each required 8 guys busting a gut to shift them.
The island is so large that if Trump hears about it, he'll want to put the American flag on it...
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
I think Andy Burnham is one of Labour's better politicians - but it's not clear to me how he is in a better position to defeat Reform. Bluntly, he is somewhat woker than SKS. And therefore rather more likely to drive up the Reform vote. Arguably he might gather back some of the lost Lab votes to the Greens and rag/Tag/Bobtails, but that doesn't really strike me as 'fighting back against Reform'.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
Somewhere between Jack Duckworth and late stage Stan Ogden.
Burnham not ageing well is he? Must be the pressure of being the mayor. Lord knows what he would look like after a couple of years in Downing Street...
China will "actively consider" implementing unilateral visa-free entry for UK citizens, said President Xi
There are already 48 countries who have this.
If Kier could swing that for me I would be very grateful. Right now I have to make elaborate plans to leave for a different country than the one I arrive from so they count me as transit. Meanwhile Japanese people can just breeze in and out at will despite China being really mad at Japan over Taiwan and revoking its panda privileges.
Interesting that China is willing to do this unilaterally, but India stands on reciprocity.
Is that all the EU on the list, just asking?
Looks like it. Plus the micro-states.
Sometimes countries do it separately, though. Even when we were in the EU, we didn't have access to St-Petersberg-without-a-visa, when every other EU country did.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
I think Andy Burnham is one of Labour's better politicians - but it's not clear to me how he is in a better position to defeat Reform. Bluntly, he is somewhat woker than SKS. And therefore rather more likely to drive up the Reform vote. Arguably he might gather back some of the lost Lab votes to the Greens and rag/Tag/Bobtails, but that doesn't really strike me as 'fighting back against Reform'.
He outperformed Labour in GM generally at the previous election, for instance Oldham MBC Labour got 29% whereas he was close to 50 in that area and that was his poorest area.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
I think Andy Burnham is one of Labour's better politicians - but it's not clear to me how he is in a better position to defeat Reform. Bluntly, he is somewhat woker than SKS. And therefore rather more likely to drive up the Reform vote. Arguably he might gather back some of the lost Lab votes to the Greens and rag/Tag/Bobtails, but that doesn't really strike me as 'fighting back against Reform'.
Modest in victory and gracious in defeat is easily the best long term strategy. The worst strategy for Burnham at this moment is to display no understanding of the arguments of the other side in his own party, but continue to imply that he was 100% right and they were 100% wrong.
China will "actively consider" implementing unilateral visa-free entry for UK citizens, said President Xi
There are already 48 countries who have this.
If Kier could swing that for me I would be very grateful. Right now I have to make elaborate plans to leave for a different country than the one I arrive from so they count me as transit. Meanwhile Japanese people can just breeze in and out at will despite China being really mad at Japan over Taiwan and revoking its panda privileges.
Bus driver sacked after chasing and punching thief
“ Hehir gave chase and retrieved the necklace, but said the man returned to the bus to confront him, and threw "the first punch"
“Operations manager Alina Gioroc, who had heard the disciplinary case, told the tribunal she believed "that the (man) returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with the female passenger"
There are, shall we say, certain subjects where - if I was allowed to speak freely - I would overturn the settled opinion of this esteemed forum, and also frighten the shit out of you
But I am not, so I shall instead remark upon the fashion for very pretty slender black hookers at the Novotel end of soi Nana, whereas all the ladyboys seem to have disappeared
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
'I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.'
I think you are missing the point
There wasn't any discord in labour in 2024 and he was already established as the Mayor of Manchester
Then we saw the fall in grace of Starmer and Reeves to the point that the left of the party were (and still are) looking for a champion and winner v Starmer and I am certain influential labour mps led by Angela Rayner wanted a candidate who could beat him if and when the opportunity arose
It would be foolish to think because Starmer led his committee to block Burnham, that all of a sudden those left wing groups just turn round and say OK then !!!!!!
I am not sure that Starmer will lose Gorton and Denton but even so, May is the big judgement on him and his moment of danger
I would say in the competition I have Starmer as PM at the end of this year and no Andy Burnham in the HOC, but in today's highly volatile and unpredictable climate nobody can be certain of anything
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
Guardian seem ready to indulge him uncritically, shades of the end of Brown and their indulgence of Caroline Flint's endless backstabbing.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
I think Andy Burnham is one of Labour's better politicians - but it's not clear to me how he is in a better position to defeat Reform. Bluntly, he is somewhat woker than SKS. And therefore rather more likely to drive up the Reform vote. Arguably he might gather back some of the lost Lab votes to the Greens and rag/Tag/Bobtails, but that doesn't really strike me as 'fighting back against Reform'.
He outperformed Labour in GM generally at the previous election, for instance Oldham MBC Labour got 29% whereas he was close to 50 in that area and that was his poorest area.
Like or loath him, Andy Burnham is very, very popular in Manchester.
The Mayor can just blame central government funding for “not doing X” - so he has never had to say no to a progressive cause.
AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in the UK, has just announced it will invest $15bn in China until 2030. The pharmaceutical company says the investment will be used to expand medicines, manufacturing and research and development.
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
China is a huge market, and their development biotech sector is second only to the US.
We have a historically extremely strong science base, but our biotech sector has been in relative decline for some time. And having left the EU, we're a globally insignificant market for medicines.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
I think Andy Burnham is one of Labour's better politicians - but it's not clear to me how he is in a better position to defeat Reform. Bluntly, he is somewhat woker than SKS. And therefore rather more likely to drive up the Reform vote. Arguably he might gather back some of the lost Lab votes to the Greens and rag/Tag/Bobtails, but that doesn't really strike me as 'fighting back against Reform'.
He outperformed Labour in GM generally at the previous election, for instance Oldham MBC Labour got 29% whereas he was close to 50 in that area and that was his poorest area.
Like or loath him, Andy Burnham is very, very popular in Manchester.
The Mayor can just blame central government funding for “not doing X” - so he has never had to say no to a progressive cause.
My view is that his popularity in GM is likely to evaporate quite quickly when he dumps us to go back to the Westminster politics he has until recently purported not to be interested in.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
Guardian seem ready to indulge him uncritically, shades of the end of Brown and their indulgence of Caroline Flint's endless backstabbing.
On that note, longshot for female labour defecting to Reform? She's been on GB news.
AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in the UK, has just announced it will invest $15bn in China until 2030. The pharmaceutical company says the investment will be used to expand medicines, manufacturing and research and development.
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
Given the propensity of Chinese factories to steal Western IP and flood the market with fakes, why would a pharma company want to invest in research or manufacturing there? The Chinese market will happily allow the ‘generics’ to dominate domestically, well outside any enforceable Western IP law.
Guess where the US pharma sector is inlicensing more new drugs from now, between China and the Europe/UK ?
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
The guys lugging the marble top reminds me when we had the top delivered for our kitchen island. Two parts, each required 8 guys busting a gut to shift them.
The island is so large that if Trump hears about it, he'll want to put the American flag on it...
Is that @Benpointer’s new house?! I rather like it. Certainly a hundred times nicer than the average, windowless, Barratt home red brick rabbit hutch
We should build more wooden houses. Red brick, unless used with great skill, is intrinsically ugly and bleak, especially in the British climate
There are, shall we say, certain subjects where - if I was allowed to speak freely - I would overturn the settled opinion of this esteemed forum, and also frighten the shit out of you
But I am not, so I shall instead remark upon the fashion for very pretty slender black hookers at the Novotel end of soi Nana, whereas all the ladyboys seem to have disappeared
I was quite surprised when I heard my daughter's school were looking at ways to stop kids becoming radicalised. I had assumed - what, with a radical Muslim blowing up a load of kids watching pop music in the Arena a few years back - that they were looking at ways to prevent Islamic radicalisation - i.e. the one which kills people and other things we are not allowed to mention. But of course not. It's to stop kids questioning the benefits of immigration.
To be fair to the current government, this isn't new. I remember a question in GCSE geography when I did it 30-odd years ago about 'what are the benefits of immigration'. Even at the age of 16, this struck me as curiously one-sided.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
'I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.'
I think you are missing the point
There wasn't any discord in labour in 2024 and he was already established as the Mayor of Manchester
Then we saw the fall in grace of Starmer and Reeves to the point that the left of the party were (and still are) looking for a champion and winner v Starmer and I am certain influential labour mps led by Angela Rayner wanted a candidate who could beat him if and when the opportunity arose
It would be foolish to think because Starmer led his committee to block Burnham, that all of a sudden those left wing groups just turn round and say OK then !!!!!!
I am not sure that Starmer will lose Gorton and Denton but even so, May is the big judgement on him and his moment of danger
I would say in the competition I have Starmer as PM at the end of this year and no Andy Burnham in the HOC, but in today's highly volatile and unpredictable climate nobody can be certain of anything
Thanks. But I think you are avoiding my point. He stood for mayor in May 2024. At that point there would be a GE within a few months - expected IIRC in October. Burnham could have waited and become an MP, taking less risk than most candidates of losing, and a higher chance than most of finding a safe seat. He didn't.
He then divides the party by all sorts of tactics to show he is a big presence in the playground, culminating in a last second application for G and D.
A challenge to Starmer is quite proper. There are over 400 MPs to choose from, some of them very able. He could have been one of them. Instead he invites his biggest political foes to lie down and accept an extra and lethal MP to the 400 who can oppose SKS if they have the support. He finds it 'hard to take' when, having played hardball he finds others play hardball too. Gosh.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
I don't subscribe and it was there for me? Perhaps it is one of those occasions where you can see a certain number of free articles a month?
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
The guys lugging the marble top reminds me when we had the top delivered for our kitchen island. Two parts, each required 8 guys busting a gut to shift them.
The island is so large that if Trump hears about it, he'll want to put the American flag on it...
Nice to see.
I'm due for a kitchen overhaul sometime soon - I tend to like granite, although chunky stainless steel has it's place too.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
The Guardian or Observer, I forget which, covered this days ago.
She's a graphical fictional character originally invented for a game that was supposedly designed to help teenagers avoid becoming radicalised by Radical Right online content. I forget the details but she's been takeover by the Internet meme crowd and AI-ed and taken up by the very people the designers were trying to warn against.
Asking people queuing for lottery tickets is going to understate the Greens, I'd have thought.
In village culture here, and maybe most places, the unofficial admission price to anything 'free' in village hall type venues is to buy a raffle ticket for £1 (minimum). In consequence you sometimes have to bring home some unwanted piece of well intentioned stuff. This week it was an unidentifiable plant of some sort. Intuition or guesswork suggests to me that polling this group of gamblers would reach a large number unreached by any other sort of lottery.
I love those kind of raffles. Used to attend Cancer Research events as a friend was on the committee. The raffle prizes were mostly terrible and plentiful. Towards the end the cry would go out "Put it back in..." as no-one wanted the 'prize'. I swear some things went round for years.
I turn up, buy raffle tickets, don't ask my name to be recorded and leave before the draw. My wife is slower than me so sometimes, like this week, has to come home encumbered.
Stephen Fry told a story about carrying 'fake' tickets in your pocket to avoid having to buy some. It probably originated elsewhere.
I heard Gyles Brandreth tell that story about John Major doing that.
One suspects its an old chestnut
Can't see how it would work... you'd have top have every colour available just in case for the standard lottery using cloakroom tickets. Easier to just say 'I've already got some', it's not as if anyone is going to ask to check them.
Allegedly you have a few different colours (and raffle strips are very generic).
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
The guys lugging the marble top reminds me when we had the top delivered for our kitchen island. Two parts, each required 8 guys busting a gut to shift them.
The island is so large that if Trump hears about it, he'll want to put the American flag on it...
Is that @Benpointer’s new house?! I rather like it. Certainly a hundred times nicer than the average, windowless, Barratt home red brick rabbit hutch
We should build more wooden houses. Red brick, unless used with great skill, is intrinsically ugly and bleak, especially in the British climate
Really? I've always thought of red brick as a very warm and sympathetic kind of material, human in scale and reassuringly earthy as well as a nod to Victorian industrial structures, Elizabethan Manor houses and the like. To my mind the red brick is the most British of construction materials, in fact. It opens up the possibility of some nice patterns too, although perhaps less so nowadays when you have a single row of bricks and a breeze block inner skin. We replicated the Flemish bond of the existing house when we built our kitchen extension and used second hand London stock bricks and it looks beautiful. Our brickie was exceptionally skilled though. And London bricks are more yellow than red I suppose.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
The Guardian or Observer, I forget which, covered this days ago.
She's a graphical fictional character originally invented for a game that was supposedly designed to help teenagers avoid becoming radicalised by Radical Right online content. I forget the details but she's been takeover by the Internet meme crowd and AI-ed and taken up by the very people the designers were trying to warn against.
Only heard tiny bits of that game but apparently it's definition of wrongthink was absurdly broad, hence mockery.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
I don't subscribe and it was there for me? Perhaps it is one of those occasions where you can see a certain number of free articles a month?
Perhaps there's a way to break the paywall. But I wouldn't advocate that: the doddery old chap who penned the article looks like he could do with the money.
There are, shall we say, certain subjects where - if I was allowed to speak freely - I would overturn the settled opinion of this esteemed forum, and also frighten the shit out of you
But I am not, so I shall instead remark upon the fashion for very pretty slender black hookers at the Novotel end of soi Nana, whereas all the ladyboys seem to have disappeared
We know - you think Clawdbot is sentient.
I thought he was referring to the bats being innocent of the crime.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
The Guardian or Observer, I forget which, covered this days ago.
She's a graphical fictional character originally invented for a game that was supposedly designed to help teenagers avoid becoming radicalised by Radical Right online content. I forget the details but she's been takeover by the Internet meme crowd and AI-ed and taken up by the very people the designers were trying to warn against.
It’s all rather amusing, and yet more proof if it were needed that it’s now impossible for governments to control the narrative and culture.
'Nationalist'? Is that now the Right's accepted euphemism for 'racist'?
Dunno. The article is by my stalker so on principle I don’t read beyond the headline
I don't subscribe so can't see the article either; therefore its contents will forever remain a mystery. But presumably this is a British equivalent of the 'Pepe the Frog' phenomenon, a decade on.
The Guardian or Observer, I forget which, covered this days ago.
She's a graphical fictional character originally invented for a game that was supposedly designed to help teenagers avoid becoming radicalised by Radical Right online content. I forget the details but she's been takeover by the Internet meme crowd and AI-ed and taken up by the very people the designers were trying to warn against.
Andy Burnham has said it was "hard" to take Labour's decision to block him from standing as the party's candidate in a forthcoming parliamentary by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
'I wonder if Burnham is capable of comprehending how his decision to try standing would be 'hard to take' for the Labour party who wanted to avoid a dangerous by election for Mayor of Manchester, and for the people who voted him in for a four year 'contract'.'
I think you are missing the point
There wasn't any discord in labour in 2024 and he was already established as the Mayor of Manchester
Then we saw the fall in grace of Starmer and Reeves to the point that the left of the party were (and still are) looking for a champion and winner v Starmer and I am certain influential labour mps led by Angela Rayner wanted a candidate who could beat him if and when the opportunity arose
It would be foolish to think because Starmer led his committee to block Burnham, that all of a sudden those left wing groups just turn round and say OK then !!!!!!
I am not sure that Starmer will lose Gorton and Denton but even so, May is the big judgement on him and his moment of danger
I would say in the competition I have Starmer as PM at the end of this year and no Andy Burnham in the HOC, but in today's highly volatile and unpredictable climate nobody can be certain of anything
Thanks. But I think you are avoiding my point. He stood for mayor in May 2024. At that point there would be a GE within a few months - expected IIRC in October. Burnham could have waited and become an MP, taking less risk than most candidates of losing, and a higher chance than most of finding a safe seat. He didn't.
He then divides the party by all sorts of tactics to show he is a big presence in the playground, culminating in a last second application for G and D.
A challenge to Starmer is quite proper. There are over 400 MPs to choose from, some of them very able. He could have been one of them. Instead he invites his biggest political foes to lie down and accept an extra and lethal MP to the 400 who can oppose SKS if they have the support. He finds it 'hard to take' when, having played hardball he finds others play hardball too. Gosh.
He stood for re election for Mayor at a time when Starmer was offering the ming vase strategy that over the next year spectacularly failed with Starmer diving in the polls
When you say he divides the labour party, that division is a direct consquence of disenchantment within labour with Starmer
Angela Rayner is one of his backers who is a very influential figure in his camp and I expect the disenchantment will continue
Comments
Come 2035 they will be complaining that they are under incredible pressure from Chinese drug companies and need UK protection....of course the UK government pissed them around all over £10 million and they pulled their £500m investment from the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_welfare_spending
Plus Salford isn’t Manchester.
Dizzying. And a little worrying. I'm glad China believes in a rules based order.
https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c183390/content.html
Interesting that China is willing to do this unilaterally, but India stands on reciprocity.
This is like comparing US and UK cancer survival rates without accounting for the different proportion of untreated people.
This one seems to be doing the rounds.
Did she pay her costs order wrt Arron Banks? Was that not a couple of million?
At a brief look, they seem to be going for "big tech", including claims that the UK Govt are trying to drive AI into everything unchecked. I'm not sure on that, given that the UK Govt, with others, have taken on Grok and Musk.
Link: https://the-citizens.com/
In Huddersfield they originally built a local base in my own part studenty part working class and lightly Muslim ward some years ago, capturing both students and increasing numbers of local voters. They'd made only slight progress outside the ward, but that flipped by their Gaza friendly stance in two neighbouring more heavily Muslim wards in LE 2024, winning one and losing one ward to Labour on a split Green / Ind vote.
Actually, that loss might have been influential for the GE result, Muslim community groups rowed in heavily behind the Greens and there were no Independent or WP candidates as a result.
Now, obviously Muslim voters aren't wholly a monolithic bloc, although often more in the sense that Liverpool Walton is not a monolithic bloc, rather than some 4-way marginal not being, so a wider coalition of Green voters would clearly be needed in most places.
Anyhow, I do see a lot of conditions present in Gorton and Denton that mirror Huddersfield - some local strength, a student base, Muslim community groups being onside, and the good possibility of attracting some of the more left leaning Denton voters with their strength elsewhere. They are less far along in getting the Worker's Party, who also have some strength, in packing up shop, but on their plus side, Labour are much more unpopular now, and I feel the window for Reform to come down the middle of the Labour/Green vote is a bit lower in Gorton and Denton than it would be in Huddersfield.
Proper Reform voters won't vote for Reform lite Tories, and the millions they have lost to DK, NOTA, LD, Labour etc certainly won't.
Roughly half of all voters prefer to vote Right Of Centre. There is massive space for a competent Burkean, culturally coherent, intelligent Tory party with a front bench who look and act the part and appear to know a lot about where we have come from historically, and where we might intelligently aim next.
Being a more competent Reform type party won't do. Current Reform voters have little interest in competence or policy, except on migration and re-migration. As they will come to realise if they succeed, they want to both break everything and keep all the nice free stuff the same. Can't be done. Ask any intelligent Republican.
But yes I suspect its not something anyone actually does.
BTW - how is the house - can you send your link to build hub again? I've run out of grand designs/George Clarke programs and need my property porn!
The Greater Manchester mayor told the BBC he put his name forward to stand in Gorton and Denton as he believed he was "probably in a better position than anybody to fight back" against Labour's opponents, including Reform UK.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1klyz4rg80o
Not a very flattering photo chosen by the BBC.
I suspect they are not yet as ‘on-message’ and disciplined as they will need to be during the election campaign, although they’ll probably say it’s a good thing that they’re a group of talented individuals and not ‘group-thinkers’.
And I thought "throw more money at it" rather than eg "sack the public sector bureaucrats" was an argument which is frowned upon.
I'd hope for a bit more clarity from a professional research news site.
A UKRI spokesperson said: “Following a spending review, which gave UKRI a record four-year settlement, curiosity driven research will continue to make up around 50 per cent of our funding. UKRI will remain the guardian of curiosity driven research.
“That doesn’t preclude changes at programme or research council level as UKRI makes choices, to be in the best position to deliver on its mission to advance knowledge, change lives and drive growth. This includes taking difficult decisions now.
"STFC’s budget faces particular pressures due to its growing cost base—driven by unforeseeable developments since setting ambitious goals in its 2022 delivery plan, which are no longer affordable. This means that STFC needs to find savings from within its allocation. STFC is actively working with its Science Board and community to make the choices about how these savings are realised, and so put STFC on a sustainable footing."
Guardian live blog
Especially if you have a long record of factual errors in investigative reporting, and numerous corrections to your articles.
The sales funded the prize money for the RN crews.
With Victorian practicality, they reverted to burning/dismantling captured ships and funded the prize money from the Estimates.
I’ll bet we are auctioning the boats. And that memos about having seized the same boat 8 times have been going up and down and round…
The guys lugging the marble top reminds me when we had the top delivered for our kitchen island. Two parts, each required 8 guys busting a gut to shift them.
The island is so large that if Trump hears about it, he'll want to put the American flag on it...
Does he really lack the humility to realise that he could and should have stood as an MP in 2024, and stood down as maoyor candidate, if he wanted the PM job before 2029?
His efforts of course have given anti-Labour forces, including malignant ones, help in trying to lose a safe seat for Labour.
Next year the first casino opens here. https://wynnalmarjanisland.com/
Keir Starmer on the world stage.
https://x.com/conservatives/status/2016831436389572645?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Sometimes countries do it separately, though. Even when we were in the EU, we didn't have access to St-Petersberg-without-a-visa, when every other EU country did.
https://spectator.com/article/amelia-the-purple-haired-goth-girl-who-became-a-nationalist-icon/
Bus driver sacked after chasing and punching thief
“ Hehir gave chase and retrieved the necklace, but said the man returned to the bus to confront him, and threw "the first punch"
“Operations manager Alina Gioroc, who had heard the disciplinary case, told the tribunal she believed "that the (man) returned towards the bus with the clear intention to apologise and shake hands with the female passenger"
But I am not, so I shall instead remark upon the fashion for very pretty slender black hookers at the Novotel end of soi Nana, whereas all the ladyboys seem to have disappeared
I think you are missing the point
There wasn't any discord in labour in 2024 and he was already established as the Mayor of Manchester
Then we saw the fall in grace of Starmer and Reeves to the point that the left of the party were (and still are) looking for a champion and winner v Starmer and I am certain influential labour mps led by Angela Rayner wanted a candidate who could beat him if and when the opportunity arose
It would be foolish to think because Starmer led his committee to block Burnham, that all of a sudden those left wing groups just turn round and say OK then !!!!!!
I am not sure that Starmer will lose Gorton and Denton but even so, May is the big judgement on him and his moment of danger
I would say in the competition I have Starmer as PM at the end of this year and no Andy Burnham in the HOC, but in today's highly volatile and unpredictable climate nobody can be certain of anything
The Mayor can just blame central government funding for “not doing X” - so he has never had to say no to a progressive cause.
We have a historically extremely strong science base, but our biotech sector has been in relative decline for some time.
And having left the EU, we're a globally insignificant market for medicines.
Do the meme with Starmer in Xi’s pocket instead, which is a joke about politics and not about the PM’s physical appearance.
Funniest take on the visit so far.
https://x.com/thesundaysport/status/2016791218122854579
I guess we are deep into the ski holiday season?
https://x.com/evo1tactical/status/2016707953139552336
What a shame. One fewer aircraft to terrify Ukranian civilians.
The answer is not Europe/UK.
We should build more wooden houses. Red brick, unless used with great skill, is intrinsically ugly and bleak, especially in the British climate
To be fair to the current government, this isn't new. I remember a question in GCSE geography when I did it 30-odd years ago about 'what are the benefits of immigration'. Even at the age of 16, this struck me as curiously one-sided.
He then divides the party by all sorts of tactics to show he is a big presence in the playground, culminating in a last second application for G and D.
A challenge to Starmer is quite proper. There are over 400 MPs to choose from, some of them very able. He could have been one of them. Instead he invites his biggest political foes to lie down and accept an extra and lethal MP to the 400 who can oppose SKS if they have the support. He finds it 'hard to take' when, having played hardball he finds others play hardball too. Gosh.
I'm due for a kitchen overhaul sometime soon - I tend to like granite, although chunky stainless steel has it's place too.
She's a graphical fictional character originally invented for a game that was supposedly designed to help teenagers avoid becoming radicalised by Radical Right online content. I forget the details but she's been takeover by the Internet meme crowd and AI-ed and taken up by the very people the designers were trying to warn against.
When they try, it blows up in their faces.
When you say he divides the labour party, that division is a direct consquence of disenchantment within labour with Starmer
Angela Rayner is one of his backers who is a very influential figure in his camp and I expect the disenchantment will continue