Skip to content

Now even Reform voters have a negative view on Donald Trump – politicalbetting.com

1235»

Comments

  • Probably gave Trump a giant shit
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 49,676

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    The Royal Navy could charter civilian ships to help clear Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

    Britain is leading an international coalition drawing up options to reopen the narrow shipping lane. Chartered vessels would act as minehunting “motherships”, deploying drones from their decks to seek out and destroy hidden underwater explosives across the Gulf. Naval chiefs are also considering converting some of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s four Bay-class landing ships into potential minehunters.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/24/iran-war-latest-news-israel-trump-us-strait-of-hormuz/

    And I was joking about them sending Boaty McBoatyFace.

    Like Dunkirk.
    No not like Dunkirk at all.
    It is in the 'using civilian floating assets' sense. Obviously there are some big differences of detail. This is 2026 and Iran war and clearing the Straits of Hormuz. Dunkirk was an episode in WW2. But as fanciful comparisons between Middle East conflicts and WW2 go, I don't think it's the worst.
    It’s nothing like.

    It’s closer to using civilian ships as blockships or piers - they will be used a flat floating things, basically.

    Not moving around or carrying troops.
    I'm not going to die on this hill but there is, undeniably, a ghost of an echo of Dunkirk.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 58,640
    ydoethur said:

    tlg86 said:

    It gets worse...

    https://x.com/Steven_Swinford/status/2036529181480071622

    @Steven_Swinford
    BREAKING

    Scotland Yard has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney reported the theft of his phone to them on October 20 last year

    They took down ***the wrong address*** and assumed the offence had taken place in East London rather than Westminster

    As a result they could not identify a suspect and the case was closed



    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2036531241848050161

    @DPJHodges
    OK, this is getting worse. The idea McSweeney just rang up the cops and reported the theft like an ordinary member of the public is nuts. It was a highly sensitive mobile. Why didn’t he report it to No.10 security, so they could ensure a proper investigation.

    I will be fascinated to know how it was stolen?

    Yes officer I was having a coffee by myself, sitting out front at curbside table on a very busy street in London. I needed to go for toilet where I was otherwise engaged for over half an hour, dodgy curry the previous evening, as i left the bathroom I bumped into a friend who I hadn't seen for a while and insisted on chatting for a good 15-20 minutes, but the curry got the better of me and I had to return to the bathroom for another half an hour, upon my return, I was shocked to find my phone had been stolen.
    Oh God, not another story involving Starmer and curry.

    I nearly died of celluar ennui the last time.
    Did it leave you kormatose?
    A case of Jal-frenzy.
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 6,097
    edited March 24

    https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2036534298774225127

    NEW: The Met Police will reopen its investigation into the theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone after admitting it logged the wrong address

    Officers reviewed CCTV from Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets, not Belgrave Road in Pimlico, despite the phone containing the PM's number

    The Met Police said: "On Monday, 20 October police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.

    "The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.

    "A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of enquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.

    "In the course of responding to a recent media enquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.

    "Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited"

    The theft of McSweeney's phone means his WhatsApp messages and texts to Peter Mandelson cannot be recovered

    It is understood the phone was Government-issued

    I believe all the missing government phones from the last 10 years are in Lou Haigh's bedside drawer.

    In 20 years time she'll be posting photos of pieces from her collection on PB - "if you look on the underside of this one, it has a wine splash where Carrie threw the glass at him, I now use it to weight down my loofah, but just feel the NOOM"
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 101,910
    stodge said:

    Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

    The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

    I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

    IIRC keeping a Rasmussen on side has been very important in modern Danish politics given the trio of PMs since the 90s.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 5,399

    ydoethur said:

    tlg86 said:

    It gets worse...

    https://x.com/Steven_Swinford/status/2036529181480071622

    @Steven_Swinford
    BREAKING

    Scotland Yard has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney reported the theft of his phone to them on October 20 last year

    They took down ***the wrong address*** and assumed the offence had taken place in East London rather than Westminster

    As a result they could not identify a suspect and the case was closed



    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2036531241848050161

    @DPJHodges
    OK, this is getting worse. The idea McSweeney just rang up the cops and reported the theft like an ordinary member of the public is nuts. It was a highly sensitive mobile. Why didn’t he report it to No.10 security, so they could ensure a proper investigation.

    I will be fascinated to know how it was stolen?

    Yes officer I was having a coffee by myself, sitting out front at curbside table on a very busy street in London. I needed to go for toilet where I was otherwise engaged for over half an hour, dodgy curry the previous evening, as i left the bathroom I bumped into a friend who I hadn't seen for a while and insisted on chatting for a good 15-20 minutes, but the curry got the better of me and I had to return to the bathroom for another half an hour, upon my return, I was shocked to find my phone had been stolen.
    Oh God, not another story involving Starmer and curry.

    I nearly died of celluar ennui the last time.
    Did it leave you kormatose?
    A case of Jal-frenzy.
    Somebody's going to get the dhanSACK!!!
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,146

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    Or Trump is bullshitting?
    You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,850
    OllyT said:

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    Or Trump is bullshitting?
    You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.

    The Kobeissi Letter
    @KobeissiLetter

    IRAN ON POTENTIAL US GROUND INVASION:

    "For years, we have been awaiting the Americans' entry. We have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer."

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036554648501563899
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517
    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Why would anyone want to watch that ?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 58,640

    OllyT said:

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    Or Trump is bullshitting?
    You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.

    The Kobeissi Letter
    @KobeissiLetter

    IRAN ON POTENTIAL US GROUND INVASION:

    "For years, we have been awaiting the Americans' entry. We have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer."

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036554648501563899
    "American President, go fuck yourself!" :lol:
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 19,584

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    DeepSeek costs $6 million.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517

    geoffw said:

    Rob Key gave a masterclass in waffle and failing upwards.

    The fact he has hoodwinked apparently the entirety of the leadership of English cricket into not sacking him will be one for the ages.

    A little while back wasn't there an Australian con man who arrived by helicopter at Lords or the Oval with a suitcase of banknotes to arrange some kind of deal with English cricket?
    Allen Stanford, he was American based out of the Caribbean. In the slammer for the rest of his life for running a Ponzi scheme.
    If only he'd waited for Trump to be president.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,887
    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Why would anyone want to watch that ?
    Well, clearly the commissioning editors at the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky had the same doubts, because it's on C5.

    Martin Clunes clearly needs a new agent.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 101,910

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    DeepSeek costs $6 million.
    Wasn't that more about the final training of the model, not the total cost? Which was much higher, though still peanuts compared the OpenAI costs?
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,993
    stodge said:

    Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

    The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

    I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

    84-77 now, with the centrist Moderates holding the balance with 14 as you say. There are also 4 seats for Greenland and the Faeroes which will probably split 2-2. All the centre-left governing parties lost ground: further left- and right-wing parties had a good election. But it doesn't look as though there will be a major shift.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 101,910

    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Why would anyone want to watch that ?
    Well, clearly the commissioning editors at the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky had the same doubts, because it's on C5.

    Martin Clunes clearly needs a new agent.
    IDK, Clunes has never been very good yet has had a sustained career in British TV for decades so I'd say the agent has done very well for his client.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 134,924

    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Why would anyone want to watch that ?
    Well, clearly the commissioning editors at the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky had the same doubts, because it's on C5.

    Martin Clunes clearly needs a new agent.
    Nothing much else on tonight so C5 got a good night to show it
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,894

    OllyT said:

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    Or Trump is bullshitting?
    You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.

    The Kobeissi Letter
    @KobeissiLetter

    IRAN ON POTENTIAL US GROUND INVASION:

    "For years, we have been awaiting the Americans' entry. We have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer."

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036554648501563899
    Trump's options (capitulate and pretend it's a win, or escalate and hope for the best) aren't great ones.

    The latest I see in the FT is Iran is looking to permit more ships to pass, so long as they pay a tax / protection money to Iran. And pay in Yuan.

    It's quite a clever move if it results in shipping increasing. Would defacto make them owners of the Strait. And gives them the ability to exert influence over GCC as a result.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 134,924
    edited March 24

    stodge said:

    Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

    The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

    I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

    84-77 now, with the centrist Moderates holding the balance with 14 as you say. There are also 4 seats for Greenland and the Faeroes which will probably split 2-2. All the centre-left governing parties lost ground: further left- and right-wing parties had a good election. But it doesn't look as though there will be a major shift.
    Little change from the last general election as you say but the biggest gainers on seats and votes at the moment look like the rightwing populist and anti immigration Danish Peoples' Party. The governing Social Democrats facing their worst result for a century even if they scrape back in
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Danish_general_election
  • stodgestodge Posts: 16,343

    stodge said:

    Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

    The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

    I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

    84-77 now, with the centrist Moderates holding the balance with 14 as you say. There are also 4 seats for Greenland and the Faeroes which will probably split 2-2. All the centre-left governing parties lost ground: further left- and right-wing parties had a good election. But it doesn't look as though there will be a major shift.
    All three parties in the coalition lost ground and that includes Venstre.

    Dansk Folkeparti have done very well but the likes of Liberal Alliance and Socialistiske Folkeparti have also advanced.

    It's not quite as bad as it looked earlier when Socialdemokraterne were below 20% in the exit poll and when Venstre was behind Liberal Alliance.

    Many questions - could another party join the current governing coalition and keep Frederiksen in office or will we see a reversion to more traditional Red-Blue politics? Lars Lokke Rasmussen seems to hold the answers and I've no notion which way he will jump.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 39,624
    edited March 24
    Looks like the Danish exit poll was pretty good in terms of the blocs, although they underestimated the Social Democrats as an individual party. 22% instead of 19%.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 19,584
    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 101,910

    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/

    Well that's because he's a man of sophistication and discret....

    Probably a NFT of a golden Trump idol.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,850

    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    33m
    US officials say the Iranian government is in chaos and it is struggling to communicate even within itself, this makes diplomacy hard as it is unclear who is making the decisions-AXIOS

    https://x.com/WarMonitor3/status/2036559505094320563


    Erm, that's by design by the Iranian hard line leaders.

    The power is diffused across the IRCG and the theocracy.

    The hydra
  • isamisam Posts: 43,884
    tlg86 said:

    It gets worse...

    https://x.com/Steven_Swinford/status/2036529181480071622

    @Steven_Swinford
    BREAKING

    Scotland Yard has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney reported the theft of his phone to them on October 20 last year

    They took down ***the wrong address*** and assumed the offence had taken place in East London rather than Westminster

    As a result they could not identify a suspect and the case was closed



    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2036531241848050161

    @DPJHodges
    OK, this is getting worse. The idea McSweeney just rang up the cops and reported the theft like an ordinary member of the public is nuts. It was a highly sensitive mobile. Why didn’t he report it to No.10 security, so they could ensure a proper investigation.

    Boris-esque, with the defenders and accusers roles reversed
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 9,178

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    No - you can train an LLM for much less than that.
    OpenAI spend a ton but you don't have to.

    And for specific applications- like drug discovery or extreme weather - an LLM probably isnt the right approach.

    You want high quality data and something tailored to that. It wasnt an LLM that won the Nobel prize for chemistry.
  • StarryStarry Posts: 153

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    When did Iran ever claim they were developing nuclear weapons?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 49,676
    Ratters said:

    OllyT said:

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    Or Trump is bullshitting?
    You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.

    The Kobeissi Letter
    @KobeissiLetter

    IRAN ON POTENTIAL US GROUND INVASION:

    "For years, we have been awaiting the Americans' entry. We have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer."

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036554648501563899
    Trump's options (capitulate and pretend it's a win, or escalate and hope for the best) aren't great ones.

    The latest I see in the FT is Iran is looking to permit more ships to pass, so long as they pay a tax / protection money to Iran. And pay in Yuan.

    It's quite a clever move if it results in shipping increasing. Would defacto make them owners of the Strait. And gives them the ability to exert influence over GCC as a result.
    If he plays his cards right Trump can maybe extricate himself with something close to the Obama deal.
  • Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    Training costs are dictated by the amount of data the model trains on. For a general model like ChatGPT or Gemini that's basically everything, but if you're creating a model for specific scientific purposes the training can be orders of magnitude cheaper.

    There are (rich) people training special purpose models using consumer grade hardware in their bedrooms.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 16,343
    That wily old operator Lars Lokke Rasmussen is a class act.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,850
    American Idiot latest...


    Danny (Dennis) Citrinowicz ,داني سيترينوفيتش
    @citrinowicz

    If these are indeed the [15] core points, they only underscore a deeper problem: Washington still doesn’t understand Iran or where it is heading.

    Trump now faces three choices: accept Iran’s terms, walk away from negotiations, or settle for an empty framework that allows him to declare the war over without resolving anything.

    These are terms Iran would not have accepted before the war, and certainly not after it. A regime that feels it has withstood pressure and is far less likely to compromise.


    https://x.com/citrinowicz/status/2036572424972456344
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 15,531
    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

    The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

    I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

    84-77 now, with the centrist Moderates holding the balance with 14 as you say. There are also 4 seats for Greenland and the Faeroes which will probably split 2-2. All the centre-left governing parties lost ground: further left- and right-wing parties had a good election. But it doesn't look as though there will be a major shift.
    All three parties in the coalition lost ground and that includes Venstre.

    Dansk Folkeparti have done very well but the likes of Liberal Alliance and Socialistiske Folkeparti have also advanced.

    It's not quite as bad as it looked earlier when Socialdemokraterne were below 20% in the exit poll and when Venstre was behind Liberal Alliance.

    Many questions - could another party join the current governing coalition and keep Frederiksen in office or will we see a reversion to more traditional Red-Blue politics? Lars Lokke Rasmussen seems to hold the answers and I've no notion which way he will jump.
    What you describe, wasn’t that exactly the tagline ahead of season 2 episode 7?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 55,701

    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/

    Is it a large wooden horse?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517
    The corrupt and overly powerful Prosecution has been a staple of S Korean political drama for as long as I can recall.

    Script writers will be horrified at this news.

    Prosecution reform bills approved at Cabinet in significant overhaul

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/politics/20260324/prosecution-reform-bills-approved-at-cabinet-in-significant-overhaul
    The Cabinet on Tuesday approved two prosecution reform bills that would dismantle the current prosecution service later this year to separate its exclusive power to both initiate criminal probes and indict suspects.

    When promulgated, it would mark a sweeping overhaul of the nation's prosecution system. Under the new laws, the prosecution office will be shut down in October, 78 years after its establishment in 1948, and two new agencies will exercise indictment and investigate roles, respectively.

    The bills on establishing the so-called serious crimes investigation agency and the indictment agency, pushed by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), were passed at the National Assembly last week in a plenary session boycotted by the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)..

    ..The government has been seeking to separate the prosecution service's authority over both indictment and investigation amid longstanding criticism that the prosecution has abused its exclusive powers by carrying out politically motivated investigations.

    The DPK has argued that the reform is needed to curb potential political abuse of prosecutorial power, while the PPP has warned it could weaken checks on investigators and increase the risk of political influence.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 15,531
    Andy_JS said:

    Looks like the Danish exit poll was pretty good in terms of the blocs, although they underestimated the Social Democrats as an individual party. 22% instead of 19%.

    All the polls and analysis Stodge has been posting this week have been pretty accurate to this exact result.

    Which is why I came to feel it would be a Borgen conclusion. 🙋‍♀️
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 15,531
    edited March 24
    isam said:

    tlg86 said:

    It gets worse...

    https://x.com/Steven_Swinford/status/2036529181480071622

    @Steven_Swinford
    BREAKING

    Scotland Yard has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney reported the theft of his phone to them on October 20 last year

    They took down ***the wrong address*** and assumed the offence had taken place in East London rather than Westminster

    As a result they could not identify a suspect and the case was closed



    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2036531241848050161

    @DPJHodges
    OK, this is getting worse. The idea McSweeney just rang up the cops and reported the theft like an ordinary member of the public is nuts. It was a highly sensitive mobile. Why didn’t he report it to No.10 security, so they could ensure a proper investigation.

    Boris-esque, with the defenders and accusers roles reversed
    Kaleds and Thals wipe each other out. Sontarans and Cybermen take their places.
  • GaussianGaussian Posts: 845


    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    33m
    US officials say the Iranian government is in chaos and it is struggling to communicate even within itself, this makes diplomacy hard as it is unclear who is making the decisions-AXIOS

    https://x.com/WarMonitor3/status/2036559505094320563


    Erm, that's by design by the Iranian hard line leaders.

    The power is diffused across the IRCG and the theocracy.

    The hydra

    The threat of being assassinated if you use your phone might also have something to do with it.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,850
    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    45m
    The US 82nd airborne division has just received a prepare to deploy order-FOX
  • GaussianGaussian Posts: 845
    Foxy said:

    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/

    Is it a large wooden horse?
    A golden shower cubicle.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 101,910
    Gaussian said:


    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    33m
    US officials say the Iranian government is in chaos and it is struggling to communicate even within itself, this makes diplomacy hard as it is unclear who is making the decisions-AXIOS

    https://x.com/WarMonitor3/status/2036559505094320563


    Erm, that's by design by the Iranian hard line leaders.

    The power is diffused across the IRCG and the theocracy.

    The hydra

    The threat of being assassinated if you use your phone might also have something to do with it.
    If we must rely on people who don't have phones AndyJS is going to conquer the world if he wants.
  • Gaussian said:


    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    33m
    US officials say the Iranian government is in chaos and it is struggling to communicate even within itself, this makes diplomacy hard as it is unclear who is making the decisions-AXIOS

    https://x.com/WarMonitor3/status/2036559505094320563


    Erm, that's by design by the Iranian hard line leaders.

    The power is diffused across the IRCG and the theocracy.

    The hydra

    The threat of being assassinated if you use your phone might also have something to do with it.
    Beat me to it. Who would have thought it would be tough to talk to the leaders of Iran when you’ve killed one, most of their family and many of the other plausible candidates. 4D chess with these geniuses.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 2,570

    Leon said:

    Leon said:


    If you can guess I'll send you a lava-rock buttplug. If you want

    It's surprising how rarely that sentence comes up on here.
    It's to his credit that he included the dimension of consent to the offer.

    Besides a curious lip, I am not discerning anything about the nondescript bowl that would help in identifying it.
    Consider how amazingly basic it is
    Did you buy it for £10 from someone on eBay who told you that it was Emperor Hirohito's shaving bowl?
    Is that lava rock butt plug a spare from the diamond encrusted one commissioned by Iran?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 58,912

    WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧
    @WarMonitor3
    ·
    45m
    The US 82nd airborne division has just received a prepare to deploy order-FOX

    Looks like the invasion of Greenland is definitely on.
    It's been a feint for the history books...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 90,552
    edited March 24

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    DeepSeek costs $6 million.
    If you believe that you will believe anything, see SuperMicro System scandal.

    Nobodys who works with training LLMs think they spent $6 million, or $60 million for thst matter, nor that they trained it on shitty GPUs. Also worth noting they used stolen Claude weights and api attacks on OpenAI.

    That all been said, they did and continue to make somr interesting discoveries. But the whole its a handful of smart quant people is just a cover story.

    XAI have done really well with a pretty small team and......250,000 GPUs....
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 63,628
    carnforth said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Thank Christ. They've been running the adverts three times an hour for the last two weeks.
    There's a competing docudrama on BBC1 coming out next week, which puts an entirely different spin on the whole affair
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 90,552
    edited 12:03AM

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    Training costs are dictated by the amount of data the model trains on. For a general model like ChatGPT or Gemini that's basically everything, but if you're creating a model for specific scientific purposes the training can be orders of magnitude cheaper.

    There are (rich) people training special purpose models using consumer grade hardware in their bedrooms.
    I wouldnt categorise those as LLMs, rather foundation models. Even then, I have been told about a project at deepmind along these lines and how compute they spent every day on it, lets just say £200m wont go as far as you think.

    And ultimately if you want to get inti the foundatiom model game you will be competing againsr the big boys. Meta is doing loads of work with vision and 3d foundation models and again the resources they used are big time. Bytedance and Tencent also throwing huge money at this.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 8,550
    rcs1000 said:

    carnforth said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Thank Christ. They've been running the adverts three times an hour for the last two weeks.
    There's a competing docudrama on BBC1 coming out next week, which puts an entirely different spin on the whole affair
    Do you have a link? Google is not helping me. Keeps just returning results for the Channel 5 one...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 90,552
    A court in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay $375m (£279m) for misleading users over the safety of its platforms for children.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 39,624
    Is there any reason why Rasmussen would decide to support the Blue bloc?
  • UnpopularUnpopular Posts: 965
    Gaussian said:

    Foxy said:

    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/

    Is it a large wooden horse?
    A golden shower cubicle.
    He'll be very disappointed when it turns out to be made of gold.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 90,552
    BBC News - Offord denies homophobia after apologising for joke
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64g15j3wo

    It really annoys me with these scandals we arent trusted to see what the offensive joke was to judge for ourselves. It is trivial to put it behind a part of behind a box that you actively have to click to reveal it with a warning saying potentially offensive material we dont condone.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 22,651
    Someone thinks this 'war' could become very serious indeed. Not much humour I'm afraid.....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea-bbUWA7Os
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 63,628
    carnforth said:

    rcs1000 said:

    carnforth said:

    HYUFD said:

    The Downfall of Huw Edwards drama on C5 now, with Martin Clunes playing Edwards

    Thank Christ. They've been running the adverts three times an hour for the last two weeks.
    There's a competing docudrama on BBC1 coming out next week, which puts an entirely different spin on the whole affair
    Do you have a link? Google is not helping me. Keeps just returning results for the Channel 5 one...
    I was joking, sorry.

    :smiley:
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 63,628

    Laughable,,,

    Heard how govt’s £225m investment is powering work to discover cancer cures, to better predict extreme weather and to create a UK LLM

    https://x.com/KanishkaNarayan/status/2036475272623448076?s=20

    £225m won't get you anywhere trying to train an LLM...He does realise that OpenAI etc are spending 10s of billions every year training these things and the going starting rate for people with the skills to train them is £1-2 million a year in salary. And the likes of Google Deepmind team on this are massive now.

    If you are serious about having a UK LLM, you better starting putting many many billions aside every year.

    DeepSeek costs $6 million.
    If you believe that you will believe anything, see SuperMicro System scandal.

    Nobodys who works with training LLMs think they spent $6 million, or $60 million for thst matter, nor that they trained it on shitty GPUs. Also worth noting they used stolen Claude weights and api attacks on OpenAI.

    That all been said, they did and continue to make somr interesting discoveries. But the whole its a handful of smart quant people is just a cover story.

    XAI have done really well with a pretty small team and......250,000 GPUs....
    Also, essentially none of that team is there any more. When it was sold to SpaceX, almost all the Founders walked.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 39,624

    BBC News - Offord denies homophobia after apologising for joke
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64g15j3wo

    It really annoys me with these scandals we arent trusted to see what the offensive joke was to judge for ourselves. It is trivial to put it behind a part of behind a box that you actively have to click to reveal it with a warning saying potentially offensive material we dont condone.

    I listen to Radio 4 Extra a lot and before almost every programme we have to be told that the language on the programme may be outdated.

    This is from a radio station mostly dedicated to broadcasting vintage shows.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 22,651
  • Penddu2Penddu2 Posts: 892

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "PollCheck
    @poll_checker

    Senedd Voting Intention:

    Plaid Cymru: 33% (-4.0)
    Reform UK: 27% (+4.0)
    Labour: 13% (+3.0)
    Greens: 12% (-1.0)
    Conservative: 7% (-3.0)
    Liberal Democrats: 5% (=)
    Others: 4% (+2.0)

    Via: YouGov
    MOE: ±2.1%
    Field Work: 9 - 18 March changes w/ 13 January 2026

    Seats:

    PC 42
    Ref 29
    Lab 13
    Grn 11
    Con 1"

    https://x.com/poll_checker/status/2036511284397584686

    Tories on 1 seat?

    Poor Kemi.

    The Tories in May are set to be the Japanese during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
    I expect the Tories to gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea in May.

    Kemi is proving very popular with posh wealthy people, especially posh rich West Londoners and Jews, it is now safe for you to say you are a Tory at one of your posh candlelit dinners and soirees.

    However unfortunately for her that is a rather niche market, with rightwingers in most of the rest of the UK preferring Farage to her and leftwingers preferring Labour and the Greens and centrists preferring Labour and the LDs and Scottish and Welsh nats voting SNP and Plaid
    I predicted a Plaid Green coalition some time ago and expect that both Scotland and Wales could have independence seeking governments

    Labour 13 conservatives 1 lib dems 0 is quite a prediction but not impossible
    Plaid have not included seeking independence in their manifesto and have ruled out even pushing the issue in their first term, which is the main reason they are ahead.

    The SNP are already in power in Scotland but of course the UK government will refuse indyref2 whatever happens in May
    The main reason Plaid are ahead is the utter contempt for labour's decades in power

    The point is that if both Scotland and Wales elect independence parties then there is little prospect of any respect for Westminster and tensions between the nations will be the result
    There is already no respect and considerable tension - and that is just between Welsh Labour and UK Labour!
  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,904
    edited 2:45AM
    CNN PROJECTION: DEMOCRATS GAIN FLORIDA STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 87

    - District includes Mar-a-Lago
    - Seat won by Republican by 19% in 2024
    - Trump won District by 11% in 2024 Presidential

    Trump voted by Mail - whilst trying to dramatically restrict Mail-in voting.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/24/politics/florida-democrats-state-district-mar-a-lago-special-election
  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,904
    edited 2:58AM
    DEMOCRATS GAIN FLORIDA STATE SENATE DISTRICT 14:

    - Seat won by Republican by 10% in 2022
    - Trump won District by 7% in 2024 Presidential

    https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/24/florida-democrats-flip-two-seats-in-special-legislative-elections/
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862
    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    A grim prognosis from Professor Azeem Ibrahim:

    https://x.com/AzeemIbrahim/status/2035361179879547244

    Britain is now in accelerated decline - gradual for decades, now at risk of sudden collapse.

    My stark verdict: unchecked, UK heading for relative poverty - a deindustrialised, sectarian, indebted island with first-rate pretensions & third-rate power.

    I thought the Right viewed the 'relative poverty' metric as a load of cobblers.
    Relative poverty is more about equality than measuring how many people are essentially destitute. It feels like shifting the goalposts. If poverty was about not being able to heat your home or choose heat or eat, relative measures can be affected by perverse incentives.
    Exactly. So why worry about the UK becoming 'relatively' impoverished?
    Because, as @williamglenn notes, it means Britain looks relatively impoverished, more and more, compared to other countries. For the main reason that we ARE

    I travel the globe, in case you haven't noticed, and I see this all the time. Britain looking more and more clapped out in comparison to others

    HOWEVER, and to be fair, this is true of many western European nations, with exceptions like Denmark, Norway, Switzerland - they look increasingly bedraggled compared to the USA, East Asia, Australia, etc

    Much of it is immigration of the most astonishingly stupid variety. It's hard for a country to look rich when you've got illiterate Afghans or Somalians aimlessly wandering the streets with nothing to do because there is literally nothing for them to do - even if they want to work (as of course very many do) they don't have the skills. So they become welfare bums, or just itinerants
    I'm always astonished at how many people I see wondering around town centres "not working" on a regular workday, on the rare occasions I'm off.

    I usually have the centrists tell me they are "shift workers".

    They are not shift workers.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862
    Leon said:

    A grim prognosis from Professor Azeem Ibrahim:

    https://x.com/AzeemIbrahim/status/2035361179879547244

    Britain is now in accelerated decline - gradual for decades, now at risk of sudden collapse.

    My stark verdict: unchecked, UK heading for relative poverty - a deindustrialised, sectarian, indebted island with first-rate pretensions & third-rate power.

    Wow! And it was all going so well until the Conservatives left office 20 months ago.
    The Tories are more to blame for our current state than Labour. They've had more time in office, these last three decades, and they are meant to be the smart capitalists who make amends for mad socialism. I hope the Conservatives DIE
    Osborne was pure politics. He simply viewed elections as a game to maximise votes to get in. The only thing I think he genuinely seemed to believe in was lowering Corporation Tax, and avoiding urban social embarrassment for being a Conservative.

    Cameron should have challenged him on it. But I think he was more interested in being chairman of the board, rather than CEO.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862

    On Reform, Tim Montgomerie and Matt Goodwin are having an almighty falling out.

    Tim Montgomerie is falling out with someone?

    Say it isn't so.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862
    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862
    Andy_JS said:

    BBC News - Offord denies homophobia after apologising for joke
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64g15j3wo

    It really annoys me with these scandals we arent trusted to see what the offensive joke was to judge for ourselves. It is trivial to put it behind a part of behind a box that you actively have to click to reveal it with a warning saying potentially offensive material we dont condone.

    I listen to Radio 4 Extra a lot and before almost every programme we have to be told that the language on the programme may be outdated.

    This is from a radio station mostly dedicated to broadcasting vintage shows.
    Fundamentally, that's a sign of fear and lack of confidence.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 63,628

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,762
    Andy_JS said:

    BBC News - Offord denies homophobia after apologising for joke
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64g15j3wo

    It really annoys me with these scandals we arent trusted to see what the offensive joke was to judge for ourselves. It is trivial to put it behind a part of behind a box that you actively have to click to reveal it with a warning saying potentially offensive material we dont condone.

    I listen to Radio 4 Extra a lot and before almost every programme we have to be told that the language on the programme may be outdated.

    This is from a radio station mostly dedicated to broadcasting vintage shows.
    Radio 4 disappoints.. too many repeats too many unfunny outdated old shows.
    They get a bonus point for Paul Temple but all of the stories are available free on zi player.

    The could do the nation a service by recording more of the lost stories.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 58,912
    edited 5:14AM

    Have we mentioned that Trump has claimed Iran have him a “very big present” as part of peace talks? But he won’t say what it is. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5798853-trump-iran-oil-gas-present-strait-of-hormuz/

    It will be that LEGO animation.

    "It's all about ME!!"
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 58,009

    Leon said:

    A grim prognosis from Professor Azeem Ibrahim:

    https://x.com/AzeemIbrahim/status/2035361179879547244

    Britain is now in accelerated decline - gradual for decades, now at risk of sudden collapse.

    My stark verdict: unchecked, UK heading for relative poverty - a deindustrialised, sectarian, indebted island with first-rate pretensions & third-rate power.

    Wow! And it was all going so well until the Conservatives left office 20 months ago.
    The Tories are more to blame for our current state than Labour. They've had more time in office, these last three decades, and they are meant to be the smart capitalists who make amends for mad socialism. I hope the Conservatives DIE
    Osborne was pure politics. He simply viewed elections as a game to maximise votes to get in. The only thing I think he genuinely seemed to believe in was lowering Corporation Tax, and avoiding urban social embarrassment for being a Conservative.

    Cameron should have challenged him on it. But I think he was more interested in being chairman of the board, rather than CEO.
    This really is just fantasy. The reality is that the UK economy appeared to be built on the profits of financial services for more than a decade after big bang. These profits proved to be illusory after 2008 resulting in a structural deficit similar to that of a major war. Our entire system was bankrupt and the largesse of the state completely unaffordable.

    This is what Osborne had to deal with and it was extremely difficult involving many short term decisions with negative long term consequences simply because there was no choice. By 2019 the worst was over and the finances were back in some sort of order, albeit with much higher debt than before. And then came Covid. And then Ukraine. And now Iran.
    Without the turbo boost of financial services and with the rebalancing required our economy has struggled to generate growth since 2008. As the economy with the largest proportion of GDP being generated from FS we were hit harder than almost anyone else. We still have not recovered. We have still not found an alternative way to pay our bills. There are no simple solutions for this government, the last government or the next government. The best we can do is what Osborne did and tiptoe back from the brink but one crisis after another is testing our resilience to destruction.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 2,771
    viewcode said:

    Depressing, and depressingly accurate(?) written account of British declinism.

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-uks-accelerated-decline/

    Seems to be a PR article fluffing Reform and repeating the same MAGA themes for the UK and the rest of the EU. It's a point of view.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 18,084
    Starry said:

    Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

    Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

    When did Iran ever claim they were developing nuclear weapons?
    The last Supreme Leader issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. Clearly Iran was trying to give itself the option of developing weapons through the production of HEU but there was no indication that it planned to take the final step to build a bomb. Given recent events it is not hard to see why Iran might want to give itself that option, of course.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 18,084
    Battlebus said:

    viewcode said:

    Depressing, and depressingly accurate(?) written account of British declinism.

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-uks-accelerated-decline/

    Seems to be a PR article fluffing Reform and repeating the same MAGA themes for the UK and the rest of the EU. It's a point of view.
    People need to stop talking this great country down. We need steady progress to address our challenges, not this kind of panicky "everything is broken, tear the whole thing down" narrative which is clearly just a cover for some motivated people to come in and steal stuff, as we have seen with the Trump administration.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 65,862
    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    And well it may, but not fast or widely enough to solve our massive carbon problem worldwide.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 32,739
    edited 6:32AM
    Andy_JS said:

    BBC News - Offord denies homophobia after apologising for joke
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly64g15j3wo

    It really annoys me with these scandals we arent trusted to see what the offensive joke was to judge for ourselves. It is trivial to put it behind a part of behind a box that you actively have to click to reveal it with a warning saying potentially offensive material we dont condone.

    I listen to Radio 4 Extra a lot and before almost every programme we have to be told that the language on the programme may be outdated.

    This is from a radio station mostly dedicated to broadcasting vintage shows.
    Perhaps there are a group of listeners who are not willing to accept that they are universal fuddy-duddies?

    :wink:
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 55,701
    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 32,739
    Good morning everyone.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 34,475
    ...

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    And well it may, but not fast or widely enough to solve our massive carbon problem worldwide.
    The process of creating energy may be getting cheaper. Energy at the point of use is not getting cheaper (in the UK) it is getting more expensive. It just means companies (mostly overseas ones) are gorging themselves on 'the transition' at the expense of British consumers.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,234
    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 2,771

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    You may get some of your wish granted when the two-child limit is removed. But there will be complaints the other way. People can be so fickle.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    You're going to ban the morning after pill ?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 55,701

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    Welcome to Gilead.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517
    A very different church to the one I was brought up in.

    Pete Hegseth’s pastor and close spiritual advisor says he wants Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico to die.

    “We want him crucified with Christ,” Brooks Potteiger said of Talarico, as the podcast host said he prays “that God kills him.”

    https://x.com/jbendery/status/2036525790213423389
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,234
    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    Welcome to Gilead.
    No welcome to the USSR circa 1970, where abortion was the main form of birth control.

    How we shook our heads back then at just how primitive they were.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 32,739
    Hmmm. Pilots are being undertaken as to the potential of different types of social media restrictions for under 16s.

    "The test, led by the UK government, will see 300 teens involved have their social apps disabled entirely, blocked overnight or capped to one hour's use - with some also seeing no such changes at all - in order to compare their experiences.

    It will run alongside the government's consultation asking whether the UK should follow in Australia's footsteps by making it illegal for under-16s to have access to many social media sites."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn89g3ngkyzo
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 26,234
    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    You're going to ban the morning after pill ?
    Beyond my ability to do. However I can just marvel at the liberal Left moaning at he consequences of their actions.

    If you wany mass abortion then dont complain youve run out of children. The two are linked.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 42,972
    @maks23.bsky.social‬

    🔥 In Vyborg (Leningrad Oblast), the Agricola JSC building caught fire after a drone attack. Opposite, approximately 30 meters away, is the FSB (Border Guard) building.

    https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3mhucgsrxsk2t
  • MelonBMelonB Posts: 16,932
    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    Welcome to Gilead.
    Gilead: the best a man can get?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517

    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

    Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

    That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

    Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

    The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

    But the demographics issue is the killer.
    Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

    Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.
    Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

    Demographic problem solved.
    You're going to ban the morning after pill ?
    Beyond my ability to do. However I can just marvel at the liberal Left moaning at he consequences of their actions.

    If you wany mass abortion then dont complain youve run out of children. The two are linked.
    Since around 90% of the public approve of abortion bring legal, it's hardly "the Liberal left".

    And I'm not complaining.

    Your comparison of the availability of mifepristone with practice in the 1970s USSR is a pretty good window into your thinking.

  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 42,972
    @tendar.bsky.social‬

    After a drone strike at the Vyborg shipyard in Russia, the Russian patrol ship „Project 23550“, which is under construction, is listing to its port side.

    https://bsky.app/profile/specialkhersoncat.bsky.social/post/3mhuj5ogovc2a
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 87,517
    McSweeney didn't lose his phone in the US did he ?

    Garcia: While you were being assaulted, you told the agents that you had filmed this on your phone?

    Bazan: Yes.

    Garcia: And that’s when they took your phone away. These agents didn’t just take your phone. They sold it. They pawned it at a kiosk for $250. Is that correct?

    Bazan: Yes.

    https://x.com/Acyn/status/2036628648275640410
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 127,074

    NEW THREAD

  • eekeek Posts: 33,013

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    A grim prognosis from Professor Azeem Ibrahim:

    https://x.com/AzeemIbrahim/status/2035361179879547244

    Britain is now in accelerated decline - gradual for decades, now at risk of sudden collapse.

    My stark verdict: unchecked, UK heading for relative poverty - a deindustrialised, sectarian, indebted island with first-rate pretensions & third-rate power.

    Wow! And it was all going so well until the Conservatives left office 20 months ago.
    The Tories are more to blame for our current state than Labour. They've had more time in office, these last three decades, and they are meant to be the smart capitalists who make amends for mad socialism. I hope the Conservatives DIE
    Osborne was pure politics. He simply viewed elections as a game to maximise votes to get in. The only thing I think he genuinely seemed to believe in was lowering Corporation Tax, and avoiding urban social embarrassment for being a Conservative.

    Cameron should have challenged him on it. But I think he was more interested in being chairman of the board, rather than CEO.
    This really is just fantasy. The reality is that the UK economy appeared to be built on the profits of financial services for more than a decade after big bang. These profits proved to be illusory after 2008 resulting in a structural deficit similar to that of a major war. Our entire system was bankrupt and the largesse of the state completely unaffordable.

    This is what Osborne had to deal with and it was extremely difficult involving many short term decisions with negative long term consequences simply because there was no choice. By 2019 the worst was over and the finances were back in some sort of order, albeit with much higher debt than before. And then came Covid. And then Ukraine. And now Iran.
    Without the turbo boost of financial services and with the rebalancing required our economy has struggled to generate growth since 2008. As the economy with the largest proportion of GDP being generated from FS we were hit harder than almost anyone else. We still have not recovered. We have still not found an alternative way to pay our bills. There are no simple solutions for this government, the last government or the next government. The best we can do is what Osborne did and tiptoe back from the brink but one crisis after another is testing our resilience to destruction.
    I agree difficult choices were needed and the deficit had to be dealt with, I didn't agree with the way he did it - featherbedding pensioners, stiffing students and cutting defence and justice to the bone.
    And also cutting local government in a way that the blame was laid at local councillors...
Sign In or Register to comment.