Voters want it good not quick – politicalbetting.com
Voters want it good not quick – politicalbetting.com
Britons tend to think it's more important to retain the right to a jury trial than to try and reduce waiting lists for court trialsMore important to have right to jury trial: 50%More important to try and reduce waiting lists: 31%yougov.com/en-gb/daily-…
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Sir Keir Starmer has ordered a standards overhaul in an attempt to boost integrity in public life following the Mandelson scandal.
The documents that have been published today absolutely lay bare the fact the PM knew everything about Mandelson and still went ahead and appointed him
This from last on pre-1960 bank notes.
I idly looked up pre-1960 bank notes on wiki and went down a slight rabbit hole on finding out the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha in south Atlantic uses GB pounds.
Another few minutes of the afternoon used up!
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-03-10/division/716F1E68-CC3B-43A8-86A7-F2092F57D545/CourtsAndTribunalsBill?outputType=Party
@PronouncedAlva
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31m
Thoughts and prayers for those who thought Morgan McSweeney pushing for Mandelson's appointment was a "narrative pushed by Labour's soft -left"
https://x.com/PronouncedAlva/status/2031760528696049704
https://www.ft.com/content/d1632ddc-2189-44ab-9b1c-72164354ee18
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvg150715jet
The due diligence report was laughable . Staying in the apartment of Epstein whilst he was in jail should have been a huge red flag . Instead it’s given almost a shrug in the report .
Regardless of future files released , it’s irrelevant what questions were asked or whether Mandelson lied through his teeth at that point .
How exactly do you explain away staying in the apartment? There’s really nothing you can say that can justify that .
Regardless of whether one odious character as in Mandelson would get on swimmingly with the moral vacuum of Trump is irrelevant.
You simply should never have taken the chance on appointing him to begin with.
He had to crowbar in "twenty years ago" which is a) not true and b) not the point. Couldn't just write it straight.
I don’t care who’s on them. Could be Hulk Hogan for all I care. The purchasing power is all I care about.
In an email Peter Mandelson sent to Foreign Office HR after he was sacked, he expressed concern that he received "maximum dignity and minimum media intrusion" upon leaving the US and returning to the UK.
"I remain a crown/civil servant and expect to be treated as such," he says in the email, dated 17 September 2025.
"How is the FCDO [the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] assisting in this?"
But publicly adopting the standards of the Trump administration really ought to be a resignation matter for a UK PM.
You want to know why I wasn't surprised to see Jared Kushner in this picture with Ghislaine? Because sexual blackmail is normal for these people, and they get rewarded for it! Look at his father. It's the Epstein playbook.
Charles Kushner, Jerad Kushner' father, pleaded guilty in 2005 for fraud, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Court documents detail how he paid a prostitute $10,000 to lure his brother-in-law (a cooperating witness in the tax probe) to a New Jersey motel, where the encounter was covertly recorded. Kushner then mailed the video to his sister (the witness's wife) to silence her testimony.
What kind of person does this to their sister?
He served about 14-16 months before release. Kushner was then pardoned by President Trump on December 23, 2020, which cleared his record and allowed him to resume professional activities (he had been disbarred in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). Trump then nominated him as the U.S. Ambassador to France on November 30, 2024; he was confirmed by the Senate in early 2025 and assumed the role in July 2025.
https://x.com/KnoxieLuv/status/2031691051920998402
Barcelona fan goes to wrong St James’ Park – in Exeter
Supporter misses Champions League match at Newcastle after travelling to Devon, where League One club take pity and let him in
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/03/11/barcelona-fan-wrong-ground-366-miles-newcastle-james-park/
Corruption Isn’t a New Problem in American Politics:
I am reading Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln, a chapter a day, and learning much from it. For example this story, from chapter 23, has something to teach us, even now:
Earlier he [Thaddeus Stevens] had gone to warn Lincoln that [Simon] Cameron had taking ways and might not be the man for War Department head. “You don’t mean to say you think Cameron would steal?” Lincoln asked. “No,” was the reply. “I don’t think he would steal a red-hot stove.” Lincoln repeated this to Cameron as good wit, and perhaps a warning to be careful. Cameron insisted that Stevens must retract. So Stevens at the White House said, “Mr. Lincoln why did you tell Cameron what I said to you?” “I thought it was a good joke and didn’t think it would make him mad.” “Well he is very mad and made me promise to retract. I will now do so. I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I now take that back.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Cameron
I don't think the changes will clear the backlog, but I don't blame Labour entirely for that, they got an independent expert to review and make recommendations. Unfortunately it was a Judge who doesn't like juries.
"...we are told that Britain is a renewable energy superpower and that we can now produce the equivalent of 100% of the clean energy needed for the National Grid. But this is only true for electricity generation, which is a small part, less than a third, of the energy we actually consume. If you include home heating, transport, construction, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and other industrial processes, we are still overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels."
Italian leader says her country will not join in war or let America use its air bases without debate
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/11/giorgia-meloni-condemns-iran-school-killings/
Incidentally how does one manage on a racecourse or dog track without cash?
Trump: "We may cut off trade with Spain."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Cameron
Thaddeus Stevens was gift for the ages. A man born to be played by Tommy Lee Jones.
Leyland-Yutani would be fun. "Building Better British Worlds"...which then breaks down on the A62.
Bernard Woolley: That's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it?
I give confidential security briefings.
You leak.
He has been charged under section 2a of the Official Secrets Act.
The Ukraine war energy shock was enormously expensive for us, of course. It's not exactly a useful comparator for energy policy though.
If we were serious about it, we'd be building a lot more nuclear at the same cost as S Korea.
There's no evidence yet that we're going to do anything like that.
It also resulted in some very interesting by-elections over the years, like the one with 7 candidates and only 3 eligible voters.
Pretty sure US police already ask about carrying large amounts of cash as a reason to shake people down through civil forfeiture.
Other than Reeves though
Before entering politics the Green Party leader worked as a hypnotherapist and offered a session in 2013 to enlarge a newspaper reporter's bust. Polanski has since said he was misrepresented and never believed it was possible, claiming he spoke to the BBC the day after the article to apologise.
BBC News cannot find evidence of such an interview, but six days later he spoke to Radio Humberside to stand by the theory saying "the evidence is growing".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9enygvezeo
Zack Polanski's claim to have immediately apologised for saying that hypnosis could increase a woman's breast size has been thrown into doubt by a newly unearthed interview.
Before entering politics the Green Party leader worked as a hypnotherapist and offered a session in 2013 to enlarge a newspaper reporter's bust.
Polanski has since said he was misrepresented and never believed it was possible, claiming he spoke to the BBC the day after the article to apologise.
BBC News cannot find evidence of such an interview, but six days later he spoke to Radio Humberside to stand by the theory saying "the evidence is growing".
The effluence of policies from Confluence.
Lehman Sisters, eh !
The problem is not diversity in the sense of sex, race or creed. It’s is an absence of diversity of thought and behaviour.
The #NU10K appear diverse, superficially. But their indifferent vacuity and lack of moral responsibility is uniform.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/798031/can-you-really-think-your-boobs-bigger/
If it did, he'd be a billionaire in the male enhancement industry by now.
Hopefully it won't come to that!
Not as simple as gender, I wonder how many of Brown's era would have appointed Mandy having worked with him.
He could, I suppose, cut off all US military supplies. That would be a huge fillip to the European defence industry.
I am reminded of a comment by Mike Martin MP about peace vs war, as if he doesn't come up with something to address what led to the conflict breaking out this time, it will be more a cessation than peace.
If war is politics by other means, then the distinctions of war versus peace are not as sharp as we might think. Very often in popular discour war and peace are presented as binary opposites, as different states of being, with one being inherently bad, and the other inherently good. But peace is not the absence of war. Peace is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. It is the building of human political structures that enable us to keep talking, so that we need not resort to lethal violence to communicate....sometimes we have to fight a war to reach a durable peace;sometimes imposing peace onto a war before its questions are settled simply sets the scene for the next round of hostilities.
But I expect this is just bluster. Whilst threats often work, I don't think he likes that in international politics it sometimes does not - because those politicians on the other side have electorates to appease as well.
It would be a huge shock if a Sun journalist had completely misrepresented the facts in a story.
Zack should consider himself lucky he wasn't coerced into doing something illegal, shopped to the police and served jail time.
What happens then?
So it's safe for Mr Trump to order the USN to start escorting convoys through the Straits of Hormuz.
Don't hold your breath, best beloved ... and don't use much petrol.
It's being restricted, not abolished.
Sarah Ferguson, and Angela Rayner, not so much.
Does that mean snorkers for dinner?
It's interesting how confident commentators like him are about believing politicians, whislt probably believing themselves to be very cautious and cynical about political leaders. You do see it on the other side too, and I'm not advocating never trusting a politician, but when you try to appear throughtful before coming down on one side, it is a bit funny when it comes down to just being very credulous.