Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
Curiously, it was NYT that started this, years back - bizarre stories about the U.K. as post-apocalyptic hellscape.
In those stories, the locals would be quoted as speaking in New York idiom and using US related sporting metaphors.
If you read popular USA detective/crime stuff, Michael Connolly (LA) or Lawrence Block (NY) for example - who are great fun - you would not think it possible to live in California or New York and live to tell the tale.
Hot Fuzz was based, in part, on the joke that life expectancy as a WWI fighter pilot is higher than in fictional villages in the rural England.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". On PB from one thread to the next is an eternity. I am reading that the economy has upturned and on the Starmer-Reeves watch.
I missed it myself but thanks everyone for the heads up.
Myself and a couple of others made comments about this on Thursday, I think? Borrowing lower than expected in December, growth in retail in December if not over the quarter, PMIs a bit better without being incredible. It was definitely more positive.
Ive been arguing UK economy is about to turn a corner for a while. I'm normally wrong but maybe not this time!
"Pakistan will boycott their Group A game against India at the 2026 T20 World Cup. A post issued by the Government of Pakistan's official X account said the government had granted permission to the Pakistan team to travel to Sri Lanka for the tournament. However, it said that "the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15 February 2026 against India".
The statement did not specify a reason for that decision. The full post on X was as follows: "The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India." It is understood the PCB is yet to write to the ICC informing them of the boycott."
Ball in the ICC’s court now.
Do they ban Pakistan from the tournament, move the match to a neutral venue, or give India the win with a fine for Pakistan for the lost revenue?
I’m in favour of the middle option, but only because I live in the most obvious neutral venue and could probably get tickets to watch it!
Sri Lanka surely already is a neutral venue, so I don't see how option 2 is an option.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
I've come across this "won't go into Central Manchester" idea. But - and this has just occurred to me - largely from people from working class suburbs. Wythenshawe, Blackley, Middleton. And John Harris reports Denton, which fits the trend. I've never heard it from people from Sale or Altrincham or Chorlton. It's those who are from areas which are already a bit rough who are most fearful. FWIW, I regularly walk through Piccadilly Gardens. And while it's diatinctly unedifying, I've never had any trouble whatsoever.
The centre often is not the worst place, and if you're somewhere bad enough already then assuming that elsewhere might be worse would make it seem very bad.
Similarly I would happily go into central Liverpool, but I would not happily ever again work or want to live or spend any more time than strictly necessary in West Derby.
Follow Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
We were in a potentially affected shop in Ayr last week. The shop owner was delighted it had been scrapped. Ayr town centre wouldn’t have been transformed by the scheme. I’m delighted that South Ayrshire Council have stood up to the cyclist bullies.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". On PB from one thread to the next is an eternity. I am reading that the economy has upturned and on the Starmer-Reeves watch.
I missed it myself but thanks everyone for the heads up.
Myself and a couple of others made comments about this on Thursday, I think? Borrowing lower than expected in December, growth in retail in December if not over the quarter, PMIs a bit better without being incredible. It was definitely more positive.
Ive been arguing UK economy is about to turn a corner for a while. I'm normally wrong but maybe not this time!
Remember that remarkable graph showing people aged 18-44 (or whatever it was) are as positive about the economy as they have been for decades? The hysterical doom-mongering from the older generation will be inversely correlated with the sentiments of the young, and the course of the UK economy depends on the latter outweighing the former. Unfortunately, for the first time ever, people aged 60+ have the most buying power of any cohort and therefore the economy is always going to stumble over their negativity.
Just spent a lovely day spending lots of money in local shops and cafes so #doingmybit.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
We were in a potentially affected shop in Ayr last week. The shop owner was delighted it had been scrapped. Ayr town centre wouldn’t have been transformed by the scheme. I’m delighted that South Ayrshire Council have stood up to the cyclist bullies.
Yeah, exactly. We'll take that £20 million and you can keep your car park.
Regarding cooking, tried a couple of new things today which are now in the fridge (so not tried yet) which came as ideas from a conversation with ChatGPT so hope it works. I have always taken a packed lunch to work, since I changed my diet a few years ago..
Firstly cooked a whole chicken in an InstantPot pressure cooker, which I've never done before, as opposed to my usual roast in oven/air fry. Then shredded, cut it all off and put in boxes in fridge for lunches over next few days.
Then tried doing a broth from the bones, using the same pot, which I've never tried before. Tasted with a spoon afterwards and it was quite nice, though I have not seasoned it yet as ChatGPT advised to season on the day when prepping a thermos. Got enough, concentrated, to dilute to make 4 thermos worth to try and take one to work each day alongside my usual thermos of coffee and packed lunch.
First time I've tried either of these, and first time I've ever taken advice from ChatGPT on food, so hope it works. Looking forward to trying the broth, its not something I'd ever considered before.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". On PB from one thread to the next is an eternity. I am reading that the economy has upturned and on the Starmer-Reeves watch.
I missed it myself but thanks everyone for the heads up.
Myself and a couple of others made comments about this on Thursday, I think? Borrowing lower than expected in December, growth in retail in December if not over the quarter, PMIs a bit better without being incredible. It was definitely more positive.
Ive been arguing UK economy is about to turn a corner for a while. I'm normally wrong but maybe not this time!
Remember that remarkable graph showing people aged 18-44 (or whatever it was) are as positive about the economy as they have been for decades? The hysterical doom-mongering from the older generation will be inversely correlated with the sentiments of the young, and the course of the UK economy depends on the latter outweighing the former. Unfortunately, for the first time ever, people aged 60+ have the most buying power of any cohort and therefore the economy is always going to stumble over their negativity.
Just spent a lovely day spending lots of money in local shops and cafes so #doingmybit.
Careful. You'll get yourself banned by the household savings ratio fanatics.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
We were in a potentially affected shop in Ayr last week. The shop owner was delighted it had been scrapped. Ayr town centre wouldn’t have been transformed by the scheme. I’m delighted that South Ayrshire Council have stood up to the cyclist bullies.
Yeah, exactly. We'll take that £20 million and you can keep your car park.
What are the details of the "transformation"?
Some can absolutely be positive and some can be counter-productive?
And why was removing a useful service, like parking, required for the "transformation"? Could it not be more carefully designed to not do that.
The best transformations add facilities, not take them away.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". On PB from one thread to the next is an eternity. I am reading that the economy has upturned and on the Starmer-Reeves watch.
I missed it myself but thanks everyone for the heads up.
Myself and a couple of others made comments about this on Thursday, I think? Borrowing lower than expected in December, growth in retail in December if not over the quarter, PMIs a bit better without being incredible. It was definitely more positive.
From November 2023 to November 2025, the economy grew 3%. Nothing stellar, but the sharp drop in net migration means most feeds through to GDP per head.
Regarding cooking, tried a couple of new things today which are now in the fridge (so not tried yet) which came as ideas from a conversation with ChatGPT so hope it works. I have always taken a packed lunch to work, since I changed my diet a few years ago..
Firstly cooked a whole chicken in an InstantPot pressure cooker, which I've never done before, as opposed to my usual roast in oven/air fry. Then shredded, cut it all off and put in boxes in fridge for lunches over next few days.
Then tried doing a broth from the bones, using the same pot, which I've never tried before. Tasted with a spoon afterwards and it was quite nice, though I have not seasoned it yet as ChatGPT advised to season on the day when prepping a thermos. Got enough, concentrated, to dilute to make 4 thermos worth to try and take one to work each day alongside my usual thermos of coffee and packed lunch.
First time I've tried either of these, and first time I've ever taken advice from ChatGPT on food, so hope it works. Looking forward to trying the broth, its not something I'd ever considered before.
In a few month’s time…
“I wonder what happened to BartolommewRoberts, hasn’t been heard from since his ChatGTP cooking experiment.”
We have to put ourselves out there and make fools of ourselves sometimes. So I am predicting a Reform UK victory in Gorton and Denton. This is based on the following facts:
1. Most importantly, neither Labour nor the Greens are the standard-bearer of the left, or the anti-Reform coalition. This is not Caerphilly, Labour are not obviously going to lose the seat, so they will be trying very hard. That can only lead to a split left vote. 2. The Tories are not presenting a serious challenge - their vote won't really trouble Reform. 3. Reform's candidate selection is clever in that Matt Goodwin isn't from the hated Tories 4. The Muslim vote, which is likely to be an anti-Reform block, has no obvious home here, and may be split between Labour, Greens and A.N. Others.
It is also what I would like to happen, so clearly caveats apply.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
Yes this is largely what is driving populism, particularly on the right but also on the left.
This is particularly true of men 40+. It isn't just true of politics, indeed I encounter it a lot with patients. I have a fair number of such men commiting slow suicide by denying that they have diabetes, blood pressure etc when they definitely do. They seem to consider any form of treatment, medication or lifestyle change an affront to be resisted.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". On PB from one thread to the next is an eternity. I am reading that the economy has upturned and on the Starmer-Reeves watch.
I missed it myself but thanks everyone for the heads up.
Myself and a couple of others made comments about this on Thursday, I think? Borrowing lower than expected in December, growth in retail in December if not over the quarter, PMIs a bit better without being incredible. It was definitely more positive.
Ive been arguing UK economy is about to turn a corner for a while. I'm normally wrong but maybe not this time!
Remember that remarkable graph showing people aged 18-44 (or whatever it was) are as positive about the economy as they have been for decades? The hysterical doom-mongering from the older generation will be inversely correlated with the sentiments of the young, and the course of the UK economy depends on the latter outweighing the former. Unfortunately, for the first time ever, people aged 60+ have the most buying power of any cohort and therefore the economy is always going to stumble over their negativity.
Just spent a lovely day spending lots of money in local shops and cafes so #doingmybit.
Careful. You'll get yourself banned by the household savings ratio fanatics.
They're not wrong - it's just that the people with loads of cash are saving way too much, and the part of the country that should be saving have hardly any disposable income in the first place. These two things are linked together.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
Yes this is largely what is driving populism, particularly on the right but also on the left.
This is particularly true of men 40+. It isn't just true of politics, indeed I encounter it a lot with patients. I have a fair number of such men commiting slow suicide by denying that they have diabetes, blood pressure etc when they definitely do. They seem to consider any form of treatment, medication or lifestyle change an affront to be resisted.
Stubborness can be an odd thing. I kind of get it for serious stuff, it can be scary and we don't want to face it, but my dad is definitely losing his hearing, and refuses to get it checked, meaning most conversations we have to repeat everything a couple of times. It's odd, since a relative of ours has had to use a hearing aid since their 30s, so I've never had the slightest concern about checking up on my own hearing.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
We have to put ourselves out there and make fools of ourselves sometimes. So I am predicting a Reform UK victory in Gorton and Denton. This is based on the following facts:
1. Most importantly, neither Labour nor the Greens are the standard-bearer of the left, or the anti-Reform coalition. This is not Caerphilly, Labour are not obviously going to lose the seat, so they will be trying very hard. That can only lead to a split left vote. 2. The Tories are not presenting a serious challenge - their vote won't really trouble Reform. 3. Reform's candidate selection is clever in that Matt Goodwin isn't from the hated Tories 4. The Muslim vote, which is likely to be an anti-Reform block, has no obvious home here, and may be split between Labour, Greens and A.N. Others.
It is also what I would like to happen, so clearly caveats apply.
Large Muslim vote and I suspect a lot of anti- reform vote to squeeze so I’m expecting a Green win
We have to put ourselves out there and make fools of ourselves sometimes. So I am predicting a Reform UK victory in Gorton and Denton. This is based on the following facts:
1. Most importantly, neither Labour nor the Greens are the standard-bearer of the left, or the anti-Reform coalition. This is not Caerphilly, Labour are not obviously going to lose the seat, so they will be trying very hard. That can only lead to a split left vote. 2. The Tories are not presenting a serious challenge - their vote won't really trouble Reform. 3. Reform's candidate selection is clever in that Matt Goodwin isn't from the hated Tories 4. The Muslim vote, which is likely to be an anti-Reform block, has no obvious home here, and may be split between Labour, Greens and A.N. Others.
It is also what I would like to happen, so clearly caveats apply.
Counter argument to your completely reasonable argument:
1) Big left of centre vote and anti Reform vote in the seat has to go somewhere; it goes Green because, for different reasons, Reform and Labour are both disliked. 2) There aren't any Tories in G and D, so they can't go Reform as they don't exist 3) Goodwin exudes unamusing disdain and his polemic is clever and off putting to anyone who has ever met any migrant who is a hard working family person who loves their country and is a pillar of the community. There are several million of these. 4) Whoever the Muslim vote helps it won't be Reform. For the Greens it is neutral at worst, but may be pro Green because Gaza.
Utterly off thread, but I've been to Jodrell Bank today. Truly one of the seven wonders of the North. They've considerably and interestingly expanded the 'museum' aspect of it. But the best aspect is still the dish itself. I could look at it all day. Also, for reasons of sciemce, you have to turn yiur phone to aeroplane mode when you go in. I rather enjoyed four hours off grid.
We have to put ourselves out there and make fools of ourselves sometimes. So I am predicting a Reform UK victory in Gorton and Denton. This is based on the following facts:
1. Most importantly, neither Labour nor the Greens are the standard-bearer of the left, or the anti-Reform coalition. This is not Caerphilly, Labour are not obviously going to lose the seat, so they will be trying very hard. That can only lead to a split left vote. 2. The Tories are not presenting a serious challenge - their vote won't really trouble Reform. 3. Reform's candidate selection is clever in that Matt Goodwin isn't from the hated Tories 4. The Muslim vote, which is likely to be an anti-Reform block, has no obvious home here, and may be split between Labour, Greens and A.N. Others.
It is also what I would like to happen, so clearly caveats apply.
I agree, in the main. I don't think Goodwin is an asset but he's not fatal. I'm not sure the "Muslim bloc" is really a thing in the way the online right assumes it is; I'd group whatever that limited effect is in with your point 1).
It's very winnable for everyone though. Whatever the result, people will be able to look back and say it was, if not obvious, predictable
Reform win - the polls all told us so Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
The most seats market tells us it is an open race - Reform 11/10, Labour 11/4, Tory 9/2, Green Party 20/1, 66/1 BAR.
If that were a horse race, any of the front three winning would be considered run of the mill
It's very winnable for everyone though. Whatever the result, people will be able to look back and say it was, if not obvious, predictable
Reform win - the polls all told us so Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
A Tory win is absolutely not predictable in that seat, in these circumstances.
Plus the idea Reform is all ex Tory is surely a fallacy.
I suspect a very large chunk of Reform voters are ex Labour and ex Lib Dem (pox on all your houses protest voters, not sandal wearers).
It's very winnable for everyone though. Whatever the result, people will be able to look back and say it was, if not obvious, predictable
Reform win - the polls all told us so Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
A Tory win is absolutely not predictable in that seat, in these circumstances.
Plus the idea Reform is all ex Tory is surely a fallacy.
I suspect a very large chunk of Reform voters are ex Labour and ex Lib Dem (pox on all your houses protest voters, not sandal wearers).
Longshot: Man U for Premiership. Currently 50s 40s or thereabouts. Form is against City and Villa. 20 years of history says that Arsenal can lose a 12 point lead in 14 games.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
We were in a potentially affected shop in Ayr last week. The shop owner was delighted it had been scrapped. Ayr town centre wouldn’t have been transformed by the scheme. I’m delighted that South Ayrshire Council have stood up to the cyclist bullies.
Yeah, exactly. We'll take that £20 million and you can keep your car park.
What are the details of the "transformation"?
Some can absolutely be positive and some can be counter-productive?
And why was removing a useful service, like parking, required for the "transformation"? Could it not be more carefully designed to not do that.
The best transformations add facilities, not take them away.
It was an abomination that was to run down the middle of the high street which si already restricted to buses , taxis and disabled etc. Some quinoa munching sandal wearing nutters came up with it.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
It's very winnable for everyone though. Whatever the result, people will be able to look back and say it was, if not obvious, predictable
Reform win - the polls all told us so Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
A Tory win is absolutely not predictable in that seat, in these circumstances.
Plus the idea Reform is all ex Tory is surely a fallacy.
I suspect a very large chunk of Reform voters are ex Labour and ex Lib Dem (pox on all your houses protest voters, not sandal wearers).
The next GE, not the upcoming By Election
No result is out of the question out of Tory, Labour or Reform majority or plurality. Out of the possible pluralities, few coalitions/agreements look all that promising.
If Badenoch - whose performance is odd - spent 3 years at her best, Tories are in the mix. Is she carries on like this week ('moderate centrists including several million lifelong Tories please please do not vote for us, especially as we are going to chuck out 'illegals' without due process') they deserve extinction.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
Utterly off thread, but I've been to Jodrell Bank today. Truly one of the seven wonders of the North. They've considerably and interestingly expanded the 'museum' aspect of it. But the best aspect is still the dish itself. I could look at it all day. Also, for reasons of sciemce, you have to turn yiur phone to aeroplane mode when you go in. I rather enjoyed four hours off grid.
When it was built it could turn entirely the other way up. Later modifications prevent that now.
However, there is understood to be greater appetite on all sides for a deal on the UK to join a future round of Safe, especially since Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and criticism of Nato.
Asked on his trip to China whether there was a case for the UK going back into a second-round Safe defence pact if the price was right, Starmer said: “Europe, including the UK, needs to do more on security and defence … That’s an argument I’ve been making for many months now. ..
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
It's very winnable for everyone though. Whatever the result, people will be able to look back and say it was, if not obvious, predictable
Reform win - the polls all told us so Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
A Tory win is absolutely not predictable in that seat, in these circumstances.
Plus the idea Reform is all ex Tory is surely a fallacy.
I suspect a very large chunk of Reform voters are ex Labour and ex Lib Dem (pox on all your houses protest voters, not sandal wearers).
Iran's state media has sunk to a new level of evil. On live TV, they're openly mocking the dead by running a multiple-choice poll and asking viewers to text in an answer:
"Which refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic uses to store bodies?" Side-by-side fridge? Ice cream machine? Supermarket freezer? Or “I am an ice-seller, stop ruining our business”
This is the level of cruelty they now broadcast as entertainment.
Utterly off thread, but I've been to Jodrell Bank today. Truly one of the seven wonders of the North. They've considerably and interestingly expanded the 'museum' aspect of it. But the best aspect is still the dish itself. I could look at it all day. Also, for reasons of sciemce, you have to turn yiur phone to aeroplane mode when you go in. I rather enjoyed four hours off grid.
When it was built it could turn entirely the other way up. Later modifications prevent that now.
I had a collection of construction photographs as a family member was a structural engineer - I have a couple left but most should be in the museum archives now.
However, there is understood to be greater appetite on all sides for a deal on the UK to join a future round of Safe, especially since Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and criticism of Nato.
Asked on his trip to China whether there was a case for the UK going back into a second-round Safe defence pact if the price was right, Starmer said: “Europe, including the UK, needs to do more on security and defence … That’s an argument I’ve been making for many months now. ..
It’s utterly ridiculous. The fund wanted to buy storm shadows for the Ukraine and France are blocking as they want more sales of SCALP (same missile) but France can’t make the numbers requested so obviously for the sake of Ukraine you would think they would allow Storm Shadow to be bought to increase deliveries but as ever the French as so stupidly protective that Ukraine will suffer. The northern EU countries are pushing to stop the stupidity but this is a constant block to Europe having a coordinated defence plan.
Utterly off thread, but I've been to Jodrell Bank today. Truly one of the seven wonders of the North. They've considerably and interestingly expanded the 'museum' aspect of it. But the best aspect is still the dish itself. I could look at it all day. Also, for reasons of sciemce, you have to turn yiur phone to aeroplane mode when you go in. I rather enjoyed four hours off grid.
When it was built it could turn entirely the other way up. Later modifications prevent that now.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
If you want to build an economy then more roads and more parking spaces does that. Removing them does not.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
I've come across this "won't go into Central Manchester" idea. But - and this has just occurred to me - largely from people from working class suburbs. Wythenshawe, Blackley, Middleton. And John Harris reports Denton, which fits the trend. I've never heard it from people from Sale or Altrincham or Chorlton. It's those who are from areas which are already a bit rough who are most fearful. FWIW, I regularly walk through Piccadilly Gardens. And while it's diatinctly unedifying, I've never had any trouble whatsoever.
I met up with an old colleague who mentioned about a cousin of his from Oldham who has refused to go into Central Manchester since the Ariane Grande concert bombing.
If Labour's current unpopularity were explained by policies which are painful in the short term but might be seen to pay off before the next election, that might be true. For instance, if the economy were expected to grow fast in a few years time, rather than being hit by lots more backloaded tax rises, or if millions of new houses were going to appear, rather than housebuilding actually falling, that might give them some hope.
Or if they had a leader with some judgement and charisma.
But I'm not seeing any of that.
So until they get some workable policies, or a much better leader, or ideally both, I think they will struggle to buck the current anti-incumbent trend, and I imagine more than half their current MPs will be looking for new jobs in 2028 or 2029.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
There are two people best qualified to screw the nation and their own voters and they are on the ascent. They are Wacky "we are leaving NATO" Zachy and Nigel "I'm Americanising UK healthcare" Farage.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
We were in a potentially affected shop in Ayr last week. The shop owner was delighted it had been scrapped. Ayr town centre wouldn’t have been transformed by the scheme. I’m delighted that South Ayrshire Council have stood up to the cyclist bullies.
Ayr Town centre was quite bleak on High street last time I was down it, I can understand why shop owners were concerned about the changes. Big shopping centres like Silverburn do well because they have plenty of parking, given Ayr's demographics I don't think the backlash on the proposals was an anti cycling decision
If Hannah Spencer wins Denton she'll be on Strictly or the Jungle before the year is out me thinks. Or at least she'll be approached.
It would take her a while to get to Australia by boat.
Strictly it is then. Blackpool not too far from Denton.
What about all the electricity used to power the lights and cameras and music? And the emissions from the cars of the audience driving up to watch live?
Iran's state media has sunk to a new level of evil. On live TV, they're openly mocking the dead by running a multiple-choice poll and asking viewers to text in an answer:
"Which refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic uses to store bodies?" Side-by-side fridge? Ice cream machine? Supermarket freezer? Or “I am an ice-seller, stop ruining our business”
This is the level of cruelty they now broadcast as entertainment.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
I've read nothing on here and I'm sure it's been talked about but apparently Mandelson was paid £75,000 by Epstein. How can anyone be paid that amount of money and say they have no memory of it? If it was for a job I could understand not remembering but what work might he have been doing?
Very disappointing. I have a signed copy of his book!
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
Iran's state media has sunk to a new level of evil. On live TV, they're openly mocking the dead by running a multiple-choice poll and asking viewers to text in an answer:
"Which refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic uses to store bodies?" Side-by-side fridge? Ice cream machine? Supermarket freezer? Or “I am an ice-seller, stop ruining our business”
This is the level of cruelty they now broadcast as entertainment.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
Ayr has no out of town shopping centre, Heathfield near Asda is the closest you'll get to one. Far easier for the masses to park there or go to Silverburn/Braehead etc.
Councils are caught in a trap where councillors think they can rewind the clock 20 plus years and go back to thriving High streets pre Internet. Sadly this is unlikely to happen.
If locals don't want it, its impossible to sell. For bulky goods, shopping centres are far easier.
Places like Glasgow get away with changes as the younger population without access to cars aren't bothered about Argyle Street or Sauchiehall Street being dug up/restricted. But for smaller less affluent towns in the sticks, the High Street as we know it looks doomed
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
Ayr has no out of town shopping centre, Heathfield near Asda is the closest you'll get to one. Far easier for the masses to park there or go to Silverburn/Braehead etc.
Councils are caught in a trap where councillors think they can rewind the clock 20 plus years and go back to thriving High streets pre Internet. Sadly this is unlikely to happen.
If locals don't want it, its impossible to sell. For bulky goods, shopping centres are far easier.
Places like Glasgow get away with changes as the younger population without access to cars aren't bothered about Argyle Street or Sauchiehall Street being dug up/restricted. But for smaller less affluent towns in the sticks, the High Street as we know it looks doomed
Councils need to accept that the old model doesn't work any more - either retail parks or internet shopping has killed it. People in a town close to where I grew up were upset when the TV shop closed - just ludicrous to expect that to be able to compete (though I concede that NDR is brutal and the likes of Amazon are tax dodging swines).
The only possibility (and it's not guaranteed) is to make High Streets a "location" worth visiting - to wander around, chat with friends, buy some nice stuff, go out to eat. Sacrificing an attempt at that to save 6 car parking spots is just... mad.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
The Mandelson stuff could escalate into a major problem for the government.
The Brown Government?
The Government that bought him back to be Ambassador to the US. Despite a number of people suggesting that it was unwise, since Mandelson’s jobs in government seem to end up with him resigning over scandals.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
The Mandelson stuff could escalate into a major problem for the government.
Mandy isn't the first Labour figure to be photographed in his keks.
It was his trying to end the tax on bankers' bonuses which William referred to which could be damaging if he is ever allowed in any senior role in Labour again, the left would go beserk
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
The Mandelson stuff could escalate into a major problem for the government.
The Brown Government?
The Government that bought him back to be Ambassador to the US. Despite a number of people suggesting that it was unwise, since Mandelson’s jobs in government seem to end up with him resigning over scandals.
Indeed, and Starmer the moment he discovered Mandy, who insisted he wasn't dodgy, was a wrong 'un, he righted that wrong.
Of course you both may be right and the Government falls and we get clean skin, King Nige. On the other hand it may simply be wishful thinking.
Mandelson definitely has some questions to answer about his behaviour whilst in Government during the New Labour years.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
There are two people best qualified to screw the nation and their own voters and they are on the ascent. They are Wacky "we are leaving NATO" Zachy and Nigel "I'm Americanising UK healthcare" Farage.
I can't abide populism. It's all delusional nonsense. But if pushed I'd prefer my delusional nonsense to be free of small-minded, mean-spirited xenophobia, so it's Reform UK I'm most worried about.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
After the 2010 election Mandelson wanted a job with JP Morgan & wrote this to Epstein: "“My aim is to acquire enough knowledge and networks in time to participate in real deals. I do not want to live by salary alone."
Unlike the overwhelming majority of us who do have to. Labour: the party of the workers.
Why was Epstein bothered by the bankers' bonus tax? He was not affected. Why was he even involved? UK banks were well able to lobby the government without needing the assistance of a man convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008.
So who really was helping who? Was this Mandelson trying to show Epstein that he could get a result so that Epstein would recommend him to his mate Jes Staley at JP Morgan?
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
Ayr has no out of town shopping centre, Heathfield near Asda is the closest you'll get to one. Far easier for the masses to park there or go to Silverburn/Braehead etc.
Councils are caught in a trap where councillors think they can rewind the clock 20 plus years and go back to thriving High streets pre Internet. Sadly this is unlikely to happen.
If locals don't want it, its impossible to sell. For bulky goods, shopping centres are far easier.
Places like Glasgow get away with changes as the younger population without access to cars aren't bothered about Argyle Street or Sauchiehall Street being dug up/restricted. But for smaller less affluent towns in the sticks, the High Street as we know it looks doomed
Councils need to accept that the old model doesn't work any more - either retail parks or internet shopping has killed it. People in a town close to where I grew up were upset when the TV shop closed - just ludicrous to expect that to be able to compete (though I concede that NDR is brutal and the likes of Amazon are tax dodging swines).
The only possibility (and it's not guaranteed) is to make High Streets a "location" worth visiting - to wander around, chat with friends, buy some nice stuff, go out to eat. Sacrificing an attempt at that to save 6 car parking spots is just... mad.
I don't think High Street shopping is a particularly ludicrous idea. We have very high rents, the result of a few things, asset price inflation, overinvestment by pension funds in retail property; we have high business rates; we have artificially high energy prices due to Net Zero. If all that were solved, what's wrong with considering physical retail as part of your business?
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
Weirdly during the golden age after which the populist right hankers via the medium of old footage of smartly dressed white people strolling down bustling high streets, drugs were largely legal.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
you could say the same about alcohol
Which bit? Not sure moonshine is much of an issue but maybe I’m out of touch.
And I don’t know how many terrorists are alcoholics, but plenty (of all varieties) are cannabis users.
Luck guy is spot on. Legalising drugs doesn’t make the problem go away. In fact, it makes it worse. “My daughter took heroin and the government said it was okay.” would be a common complaint.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
To start with, the stuff from their dealer won't be cheaper. Unless the Government is insane.
A while back the Economist did an article on the real costs of producing drugs. Cocaine is about $5 *a kilo* for bulk production by industrial chemists.
Criminals operate in a supply chain of fear, mistrust and theft. So the markup at each stage is vast. This is why murders and violence are so common in the home(s) of the drug trade - they are stealing from each other, non stop.
Note that nearly no-one buy counterfeit alcohol - the taxes are held at level, just low enough, to make fake vodka unpalatable (ha!).
Nearly all drugs sold are extremely heavily cut and often with toxic materials. Or worse drugs.
Boots would be selling pure cocaine at less than the dealers can manage for 7% pure. While paying vast taxes to the government - I'm talking petrol levels of taxation here.
This is why the moment Prohibition ended in the US, the criminals quit the booze trade. They didn't even try and compete with industrial operations and supply chains.
A big issue with cannabis is the modern stuff being bred for extreme strength - to reduce bulk. And it being adulterer with toxic stuff on top. A legal trade could have regulated strength and no adulterants.
Discover phase might be...erm... rather interesting.
The Epstein estate settled claims for damages with over 150 victims. So if anbody has a good idea of the extent of Epstein's abuse it's the estate. Given the many public claims that already involve Trump and other people it's a dead cert that the Epstein estate's records would reveal more perpetrators. Other than the millions of remaining documents that DOJ is still sitting on, dragging the estate into the spotlight is perhaps the worst thing that could happen to Trump.
I suspect that this one is another bluff by Trump.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
There are two people best qualified to screw the nation and their own voters and they are on the ascent. They are Wacky "we are leaving NATO" Zachy and Nigel "I'm Americanising UK healthcare" Farage.
I can't abide populism. It's all delusional nonsense. But if pushed I'd prefer my delusional nonsense to be free of small-minded, mean-spirited xenophobia, so it's Reform UK I'm most worried about.
The problem with Zach, like Corbyn before him is his function will be to split the left of centre vote and deliver some degree of RefCon Government.
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
Labour MPs are this evening demanding that Keir Starmer throw Peter Mandelson out of the Labour Party over his links to the convicted paedo Jeffrey Epstein.
One government minister told me they were "disgusted and infuriated" by Mandelson, and demanded the prime minister "throw him out of the party, out of the Lords". They added that the fresh dump of Epstein files this weekend are "so awful" and enough to radicalise, telling me, "I'm not ready to burn it all down".
Another senior backbench Labour MP said "If he wasn’t as close to McSweeney, Mandelson would have been kicked out of the party already."
A third Labour MP said Mandelson must "not be allowed to wriggle out of anything" when it comes to Epstein.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
Weirdly during the golden age after which the populist right hankers via the medium of old footage of smartly dressed white people strolling down bustling high streets, drugs were largely legal.
In 1910, say, a foreigner could walk off a ship and live in the country their whole life. No papers required.
On their walk from the boat, they could stop off to buy some cocaine, heroin and a quick visit to Messrs Vickers for a machine gun for the back garden.
One of the few restrictions was needing a certificate for mounting *large* guns* on a ship. Otherwise the RN might be rude to you and declare you a potential pirate.
Discover phase might be...erm... rather interesting.
The Epstein estate settled claims for damages with over 150 victims. So if anbody has a good idea of the extent of Epstein's abuse it's the estate. Given the many public claims that already involve Trump and other people it's a dead cert that the Epstein estate's records would reveal more perpetrators. Other than the millions of remaining documents that DOJ is still sitting on, dragging the estate into the spotlight is perhaps the worst thing that could happen to Trump.
I suspect that this one is another bluff by Trump.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
you could say the same about alcohol
Which bit? Not sure moonshine is much of an issue but maybe I’m out of touch.
And I don’t know how many terrorists are alcoholics, but plenty (of all varieties) are cannabis users.
Luck guy is spot on. Legalising drugs doesn’t make the problem go away. In fact, it makes it worse. “My daughter took heroin and the government said it was okay.” would be a common complaint.
Do you have any evidence for this? And how does it compare to the general population?
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
you could say the same about alcohol
Which bit? Not sure moonshine is much of an issue but maybe I’m out of touch.
And I don’t know how many terrorists are alcoholics, but plenty (of all varieties) are cannabis users.
Luck guy is spot on. Legalising drugs doesn’t make the problem go away. In fact, it makes it worse. “My daughter took heroin and the government said it was okay.” would be a common complaint.
On the decline of high streets, I sense a degree of hypocrisy in the zeitgeist, as in:
It's a bloody disgrace. Our high street is collapsing before our very eyes. Shops are closing all the time. Something should be done. Mind you, personally I've bought everything I need from Amazon and Asda home delivery for the last 10 years, so couldn't be arsed to go to the high street anyway.
Legalising class A drugs ! Not sure this is a vote winner .
It would collapse much of the systems of organised crime in the U.K.
yes and all the profits could be used to help the drongos that take drugs instead of wasting millions pretending they can catch the criminals.
Pissing money away on smackheads?
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
I'm quite surprised from Malc on this.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
you could say the same about alcohol
Not really. To make serious money from alcohol, you need to be selling beverages - harder to smuggle and trade illegally, though smuggling and a counterfeit industry exists.
If anyone's feeling over-promoted and out of their depth in their day job, I can heartily recommend "listening to Zach Polanski talk about foreign policy and defence" as a cure
There are two people best qualified to screw the nation and their own voters and they are on the ascent. They are Wacky "we are leaving NATO" Zachy and Nigel "I'm Americanising UK healthcare" Farage.
I can't abide populism. It's all delusional nonsense. But if pushed I'd prefer my delusional nonsense to be free of small-minded, mean-spirited xenophobia, so it's Reform UK I'm most worried about.
The problem with Zach, like Corbyn before him is his function will be to split the left of centre vote and deliver some degree of RefCon Government.
Okay. So everyone's angry. Very angry. They don't know precisely why they're angry nor what precisely to do about it, but angry they are. Very angry in fact. Yes, for sure. They are angry.
If you believe what you read in the media (both mass and social), you end up thinking that our city centres are post-apocalyptic hellholes into which only the most brave or foolhardy would venture. That's certainly the case with a few of my suburban and rural relatives. But when you actually go into the city, as we did yesterday for a cheese and wine tasting session (a Christmas present from my step-daughter), you find streets filled with busy but largely peaceful and friendly people going about their business: elderly shoppers, vivacious students, council workmen and police on bicycles. The disconnect between reality and perception seems to have grown beyond all proportion.
Yes, last year I spent a weekend around several London boroughs - Enfield, Hackney, Haringey. I was amazed to discover they were nowhere near as bad as the American Trump supporters on social media are constantly asserting.
Genuinely amazed that the reality of parts of the U.K. is not the same as apocryphal non U.K. based posters claim. Uncanny.
I was being a bit ironic. But there's a serious point to this. If you're on the American Right and you want to triumph against your Leftist opponent in, say, New York, what better way of spooking the voters than portraying his Leftist counterpart in London as being a Marxist Islamist autocrat? It's not just people being obtuse; there are cynical political calculations behind all of this disinformation.
I'd take Khan over the kind of council leadership you get in rest of the country. Looking at you, South Ayrshire Council, which has just scrapped a town centre transformation project because a few duffers got upset about losing six car parking spots. Hopefully the £20 million will be withdrawn and allocated to a community that isn't stuck in the mid-1970s.
Your arse , they have fecked Ayr centre already , spending a fortune by making the high street a cycle lane is only for nutters
£20 million would be better spent on a campaign to stop cyclists running red lights and endangering everyone else.
2 collisions in Ayr over the last 26 years where a pedestrian was injured by a cyclist (out of 619 pedestrian casualties, including 17 pedestrians killed by drivers). No drivers were hurt by cyclists - but 275 cyclists were injured.
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
Ayr has no out of town shopping centre, Heathfield near Asda is the closest you'll get to one. Far easier for the masses to park there or go to Silverburn/Braehead etc.
Councils are caught in a trap where councillors think they can rewind the clock 20 plus years and go back to thriving High streets pre Internet. Sadly this is unlikely to happen.
If locals don't want it, its impossible to sell. For bulky goods, shopping centres are far easier.
Places like Glasgow get away with changes as the younger population without access to cars aren't bothered about Argyle Street or Sauchiehall Street being dug up/restricted. But for smaller less affluent towns in the sticks, the High Street as we know it looks doomed
Councils need to accept that the old model doesn't work any more - either retail parks or internet shopping has killed it. People in a town close to where I grew up were upset when the TV shop closed - just ludicrous to expect that to be able to compete (though I concede that NDR is brutal and the likes of Amazon are tax dodging swines).
The only possibility (and it's not guaranteed) is to make High Streets a "location" worth visiting - to wander around, chat with friends, buy some nice stuff, go out to eat. Sacrificing an attempt at that to save 6 car parking spots is just... mad.
I don't think High Street shopping is a particularly ludicrous idea. We have very high rents, the result of a few things, asset price inflation, overinvestment by pension funds in retail property; we have high business rates; we have artificially high energy prices due to Net Zero. If all that were solved, what's wrong with considering physical retail as part of your business?
The problem is accepting that High Streets work, but at much lower levels of taxation and rent. The former is shoving a screwdriver in the ear of every council. The later is doing it to a number of banks and commercial landlords.
On taxation, I have previously suggested that an alternate taxation system, based on profits, for simple businesses might be an idea.
Simple means one limited company, 100% on shore, not buying stock from yourself etc. If you want to run a nest of shell companies, double dutch, international etc, then go for it - but you will pay more tax.
Comments
Banning Pakistan seems to be the only option.
Similarly I would happily go into central Liverpool, but I would not happily ever again work or want to live or spend any more time than strictly necessary in West Derby.
@joaquincastrotx.bsky.social
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Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.
Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.
https://bsky.app/profile/joaquincastrotx.bsky.social/post/3mdsomzd2lk2d
Just spent a lovely day spending lots of money in local shops and cafes so #doingmybit.
Firstly cooked a whole chicken in an InstantPot pressure cooker, which I've never done before, as opposed to my usual roast in oven/air fry. Then shredded, cut it all off and put in boxes in fridge for lunches over next few days.
Then tried doing a broth from the bones, using the same pot, which I've never tried before. Tasted with a spoon afterwards and it was quite nice, though I have not seasoned it yet as ChatGPT advised to season on the day when prepping a thermos. Got enough, concentrated, to dilute to make 4 thermos worth to try and take one to work each day alongside my usual thermos of coffee and packed lunch.
First time I've tried either of these, and first time I've ever taken advice from ChatGPT on food, so hope it works. Looking forward to trying the broth, its not something I'd ever considered before.
Some can absolutely be positive and some can be counter-productive?
And why was removing a useful service, like parking, required for the "transformation"? Could it not be more carefully designed to not do that.
The best transformations add facilities, not take them away.
“I wonder what happened to BartolommewRoberts, hasn’t been heard from since his ChatGTP cooking experiment.”
1. Most importantly, neither Labour nor the Greens are the standard-bearer of the left, or the anti-Reform coalition. This is not Caerphilly, Labour are not obviously going to lose the seat, so they will be trying very hard. That can only lead to a split left vote.
2. The Tories are not presenting a serious challenge - their vote won't really trouble Reform.
3. Reform's candidate selection is clever in that Matt Goodwin isn't from the hated Tories
4. The Muslim vote, which is likely to be an anti-Reform block, has no obvious home here, and may be split between Labour, Greens and A.N. Others.
It is also what I would like to happen, so clearly caveats apply.
This is particularly true of men 40+. It isn't just true of politics, indeed I encounter it a lot with patients. I have a fair number of such men commiting slow suicide by denying that they have diabetes, blood pressure etc when they definitely do. They seem to consider any form of treatment, medication or lifestyle change an affront to be resisted.
https://x.com/BristOliver/status/2018027180094107988
1) Big left of centre vote and anti Reform vote in the seat has to go somewhere; it goes Green because, for different reasons, Reform and Labour are both disliked.
2) There aren't any Tories in G and D, so they can't go Reform as they don't exist
3) Goodwin exudes unamusing disdain and his polemic is clever and off putting to anyone who has ever met any migrant who is a hard working family person who loves their country and is a pillar of the community. There are several million of these.
4) Whoever the Muslim vote helps it won't be Reform. For the Greens it is neutral at worst, but may be pro Green because Gaza.
Greens by a whisker.
(My bias: I want them all to lose.)
@keiranpedley
Unpopular opinion: if Labour are ~10 points behind at this very obvious low ebb then the next General Election 3 years from now is very winnable.
https://x.com/keiranpedley/status/2017969317770399744
Also, for reasons of sciemce, you have to turn yiur phone to aeroplane mode when you go in. I rather enjoyed four hours off grid.
Reform win - the polls all told us so
Labour win - A govt making unpopular decisions, an untested party leading the polls was always going to be a bubble that burst
Tories - Reform's Vi was fuelled by ex Tory voters who were always going to come back to nurse
The most seats market tells us it is an open race - Reform 11/10, Labour 11/4, Tory 9/2, Green Party 20/1, 66/1 BAR.
If that were a horse race, any of the front three winning would be considered run of the mill
Greens look a bit short at 20/1 don't they?
Plus the idea Reform is all ex Tory is surely a fallacy.
I suspect a very large chunk of Reform voters are ex Labour and ex Lib Dem (pox on all your houses protest voters, not sandal wearers).
Eric Columbus
@EricColumbus
“I don’t know anything about it” says the guy who posted 3x about it on Friday and Saturday
https://x.com/EricColumbus/status/2018021797489185159
If Badenoch - whose performance is odd - spent 3 years at her best, Tories are in the mix. Is she carries on like this week ('moderate centrists including several million lifelong Tories please please do not vote for us, especially as we are going to chuck out 'illegals' without due process') they deserve extinction.
Labour/LD/SNP minority carthorse it is then.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/02/01/starmer-resign-win-reform-candidate-matthew-goodwin/
I'm pretty sanguine about this kind of attitude - I do believe in local democracy, and you’ve got to win the argument. This is near impossible in places like Ayr, and much easier in younger, more aspirational places. Give these councils a chance but don’t look back if they reject it, we’ve got an economy to build and we can’t wait around for them.
UK should consider resuming talks on EU defence pact, Starmer says
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/01/uk-should-consider-resuming-talks-on-eu-defence-pact-starmer-says
..Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) security action for Europe (Safe) defence fund collapsed in November 2025 amid claims the bloc had set too high a price on entry, with France blamed for the breakdown.
However, there is understood to be greater appetite on all sides for a deal on the UK to join a future round of Safe, especially since Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and criticism of Nato.
Asked on his trip to China whether there was a case for the UK going back into a second-round Safe defence pact if the price was right, Starmer said: “Europe, including the UK, needs to do more on security and defence … That’s an argument I’ve been making for many months now.
..
As business secretary Peter Mandelson conspired with leading US bank to end tax on bankers' bonuses. He told Epstein that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon should “threaten” chancellor Alistair Darling over the tax. A year later, Mandy was seeking work with JPMorgan.
https://bsky.app/profile/ianfraser.bsky.social/post/3mdsvot7h6k2w
"Which refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic uses to store bodies?"
Side-by-side fridge?
Ice cream machine?
Supermarket freezer?
Or “I am an ice-seller, stop ruining our business”
This is the level of cruelty they now broadcast as entertainment.
https://x.com/omid9/status/2017964959506825501
BREAKING: Donald Trump says he might sue the Epstein Estate for “political harm.”
Read that again.
The guy whose name keeps appearing in Epstein records now wants to sue the estate of a dead sex trafficker for damaging his reputation.
You can’t parody this level of delusion.
https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2017946155963781386?s=20
What a thing it was (and is).
Josh Housden
@JoshHousden
Gorton & Denton by-election candidates — as of Feb 1, 2026
🟥 Angeliki Stogia
➡️ Matt Goodwin
🟩 Hannah Spencer
🟫 TBA (Workers Party)
🟦 Charlotte Cadden
🟧 Jackie Pearcey
1/2
Josh Housden
@JoshHousden
Parties that didn't stand in GE2024:
🟪 Sebastian Moore — SDP
🟨 Dan Clarke — Libertarian
⬛ Nick Buckley — Advance UK
🐷 Sir Oink A-Lot — MRLP
🇪🇺 Joseph O'Meachair — Rejoin EU
https://x.com/JoshHousden/status/2017990785409372235
Induced demand = growth.
Constraining demand restricts growth.
Damian Lyons Lowe
@DamianSurvation
·
44m
If Gorton and Denton voters see more of Burnham this really could be a tough one to call…
https://x.com/DamianSurvation/status/2018028603796054166
What sort of woke nonsense is this?
If Labour's current unpopularity were explained by policies which are painful in the short term but might be seen to pay off before the next election, that might be true. For instance, if the economy were expected to grow fast in a few years time, rather than being hit by lots more backloaded tax rises, or if millions of new houses were going to appear, rather than housebuilding actually falling, that might give them some hope.
Or if they had a leader with some judgement and charisma.
But I'm not seeing any of that.
So until they get some workable policies, or a much better leader, or ideally both, I think they will struggle to buck the current anti-incumbent trend, and I imagine more than half their current MPs will be looking for new jobs in 2028 or 2029.
Very disappointing. I have a signed copy of his book!
Councils are caught in a trap where councillors think they can rewind the clock 20 plus years and go back to thriving High streets pre Internet. Sadly this is unlikely to happen.
If locals don't want it, its impossible to sell. For bulky goods, shopping centres are far easier.
Places like Glasgow get away with changes as the younger population without access to cars aren't bothered about Argyle Street or Sauchiehall Street being dug up/restricted. But for smaller less affluent towns in the sticks, the High Street as we know it looks doomed
The only possibility (and it's not guaranteed) is to make High Streets a "location" worth visiting - to wander around, chat with friends, buy some nice stuff, go out to eat. Sacrificing an attempt at that to save 6 car parking spots is just... mad.
There are massive issues with drug legalisation. The 'Make it legal, tax and regulate it' argument - how is that going to work exactly? The whole point of legalisation is that the state doesn't have the resources to counter the trade in illegal drugs, so how are they suddenly going to have the resources to counter the trade in non-legally sanctioned drugs? Or put another way, why would anyone buy weaker, more expensive, more regulated drugs, in preference to the cheaper, stronger stuff from their dealer? The only way it can work is with massive, expensive enforcement against the illicit drugs trade, and if they can do that, why legalise in the first place?
Drugs are serious now - cannabis is implicated in a vast amount of terrorist and other attacks - it destroys the brain. One cannot legalise it, or even decriminalise it, without a hugely corrosive impact on society. It should be made utterly unacceptable socially, and its use heavily penalised.
Of course you both may be right and the Government falls and we get clean skin, King Nige. On the other hand it may simply be wishful thinking.
Mandelson definitely has some questions to answer about his behaviour whilst in Government during the New Labour years.
Unlike the overwhelming majority of us who do have to. Labour: the party of the workers.
Why was Epstein bothered by the bankers' bonus tax? He was not affected. Why was he even involved? UK banks were well able to lobby the government without needing the assistance of a man convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008.
So who really was helping who? Was this Mandelson trying to show Epstein that he could get a result so that Epstein would recommend him to his mate Jes Staley at JP Morgan?
The whole affair stinks.
And I don’t know how many terrorists are alcoholics, but plenty (of all varieties) are cannabis users.
Luck guy is spot on. Legalising drugs doesn’t make the problem go away. In fact, it makes it worse. “My daughter took heroin and the government said it was okay.” would be a common complaint.
A while back the Economist did an article on the real costs of producing drugs. Cocaine is about $5 *a kilo* for bulk production by industrial chemists.
Criminals operate in a supply chain of fear, mistrust and theft. So the markup at each stage is vast. This is why murders and violence are so common in the home(s) of the drug trade - they are stealing from each other, non stop.
Note that nearly no-one buy counterfeit alcohol - the taxes are held at level, just low enough, to make fake vodka unpalatable (ha!).
Nearly all drugs sold are extremely heavily cut and often with toxic materials. Or worse drugs.
Boots would be selling pure cocaine at less than the dealers can manage for 7% pure. While paying vast taxes to the government - I'm talking petrol levels of taxation here.
This is why the moment Prohibition ended in the US, the criminals quit the booze trade. They didn't even try and compete with industrial operations and supply chains.
A big issue with cannabis is the modern stuff being bred for extreme strength - to reduce bulk. And it being adulterer with toxic stuff on top. A legal trade could have regulated strength and no adulterants.
I suspect that this one is another bluff by Trump.
Kieron Clarke
@kieronishere
Labour MPs are this evening demanding that Keir Starmer throw Peter Mandelson out of the Labour Party over his links to the convicted paedo Jeffrey Epstein.
One government minister told me they were "disgusted and infuriated" by Mandelson, and demanded the prime minister "throw him out of the party, out of the Lords". They added that the fresh dump of Epstein files this weekend are "so awful" and enough to radicalise, telling me, "I'm not ready to burn it all down".
Another senior backbench Labour MP said "If he wasn’t as close to McSweeney, Mandelson would have been kicked out of the party already."
A third Labour MP said Mandelson must "not be allowed to wriggle out of anything" when it comes to Epstein.
https://x.com/kieronishere/status/2018027781720777108
On their walk from the boat, they could stop off to buy some cocaine, heroin and a quick visit to Messrs Vickers for a machine gun for the back garden.
One of the few restrictions was needing a certificate for mounting *large* guns* on a ship. Otherwise the RN might be rude to you and declare you a potential pirate.
*Your signal cannon was quite OK - say a 4lbr.
And how does it compare to the general population?
It's a bloody disgrace. Our high street is collapsing before our very eyes. Shops are closing all the time. Something should be done. Mind you, personally I've bought everything I need from Amazon and Asda home delivery for the last 10 years, so couldn't be arsed to go to the high street anyway.
On taxation, I have previously suggested that an alternate taxation system, based on profits, for simple businesses might be an idea.
Simple means one limited company, 100% on shore, not buying stock from yourself etc. If you want to run a nest of shell companies, double dutch, international etc, then go for it - but you will pay more tax.