Starmer has gone viral with his head in his hands Davey outed himself again as a Labour super subscriber Reform did a walk out stunt that looked very foolish
Not as dull as it seemed
You're missing the biggie.
Big John Owls said Starmer won PMQs.
Yes, given his view of Starmer (lower than a snake's belly) that is what you call rock solid 24 carat testimony. The PM must have had an absolute stormer.
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036798205602476072 This whole McSweeney phone theft business is beginning to stink. The timing is incredibly convenient for a government that wants to cover up. Why did McSweeney report the theft to the police himself?Surely Downing Street security should have been immediately alerted — and they would handle it from there. Did McSweeney want to establish a record of him reporting it? Why did McSweeney never correct the police when it was clear they thought the theft had been in the East End and, of course, it happened in Westminster. Did McSweeney relish the confusion? Why did McSweeney not make clear the national security significance of it being his phone to the police? Was he worried they’d then take it seriously, unlike most phones thefts?
Just a thought, MI5 could have eyes on that phone 24/7, can someone get a warrant from a judge to the phone company for the movements of both the stolen phone and McSwinney’s personal phone that night?
Kemi and her front bench team are going to have to u-turn on this, so they are in future backed up by the science and the facts in what they are claiming.
No they don't. They say it won't change oil and gas prices, which it won't.
As a matter of economics, it will earn the country money, and won't make any difference at all to our oil and gas consumption.
We could even put the £2bn or so extra that government might earn into solar plus grid backup projects.
So there is no good argument not to do it.
The Unions game here is wholly interested in taxpayers money keeping people in jobs, by government subsidising any industry, anywhere, that’s not economically viable or profit making. That’s what Unions are doing in the lobby.
The industry lobby says it’s all government policy decision, not geology at all. Green Lobby says UK North Sea is waning due to geology, and UK policy is still too much commitment to drilling fossil fuel for far too long. Here’s an example of Green Lobby spin: https://www.upliftuk.org/post/the-declining-economics-of-the-north-sea
North Sea policy is a war. There’s various sides, each have vested interest in not sticking to fact or balance - including government with their net zero policy, and the Conservatives who invented net zero policy in office, but prefer to argue Populist position against net zero in opposition.
Truth is the first casualty of war. It’s very hard to for us to spot what’s smartest in long run with this one imho.
That's just babble. If the government allowed licenses for the new fields, industry would develop them at their own expense.
Starmer has gone viral with his head in his hands Davey outed himself again as a Labour super subscriber Reform did a walk out stunt that looked very foolish
Not as dull as it seemed
You're missing the biggie.
Big John Owls said Starmer won PMQs.
Yes, given his view of Starmer (lower than a snake's belly) that is what you call rock solid 24 carat testimony. The PM must have had an absolute stormer.
I know, it's like me saying nice things about Max Verstappen.
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
And the Europeans who can't run a border operation to save their lives. I waltzed through Cambodian, Singaporean and Malaysian airports over the winter, delays at the border are nothing to do whether we are in the EU or not, it is down to basic competence. After all, we are not in ASEAN but they don't feel the need to make us suffer.
Starmer has gone viral with his head in his hands Davey outed himself again as a Labour super subscriber Reform did a walk out stunt that looked very foolish
Not as dull as it seemed
You're missing the biggie.
Big John Owls said Starmer won PMQs.
Yes, given his view of Starmer (lower than a snake's belly) that is what you call rock solid 24 carat testimony. The PM must have had an absolute stormer.
I know, it's like me saying nice things about Max Verstappen.
To be fair, Mr Verstappen is doing a good job this year with his outreach into German GT3 racing.
As with Mr Vettel before, he’s slowly turning from a c*** into a human.
Well, I had to google what TFW means, Kemi, cos I'm not down with the kids like you.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
Sir Keir Starmer's national security adviser Jonathan Powell has been in talks with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister
They have been talking about the need to 'deepen co-operation in all fields and to effectively manage disputes', Reuters reports
Wang told Powell that 'all parties should avoid adding fuel to the first' on Iran
It is worth noting that we only know about the fact of this visit through the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV
There was no advance notice of the trip or briefing from the government at all
What the actual effing eff?
'Powell doing his job' shocker.
Didn't realise his job was to make us a Chinese satrapy, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense.
Pity the Chinese don't seem to share Sir Traitor's enthusiasm for the new detente, given that they sent him round the Forbidden City with a tourist guide because Xi couldn't be arsed. Perhaps they rightly realise they can give him orders without even an outward display of respect, and he'll take it.
Benefit Street Bailout will hit home. Cost of Living will be a heavy weight for Labour. Drill baby drill
Reform last week asked the same question as Kemi’s 6 this week, and the “fact checkers” shredded the argument, that drilling for gas is certain to reduce gas bills as Kemi today it would.
Kemi also said at PMQs, the new Gas would be used exclusively by Britons, and she named the actual counties who would be using it.
Go look at the fact checkers on this, they call out what Kemi said today as bunkum and lies.
It is absurd to suggest that additional North Sea production is going to reduce prices. The production is far too marginal to have any effect on the international market. What it does do is improve our balance of payments and generate revenues which the government can use to offset the taxes currently imposed on fuels to some degree. And that is very much worth doing. It is appalling that no one in politics seem to take our trade deficits over the last 20+ years seriously. It is impoverishing us all.
@katiadoyl Current and former officials said the videos are also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the war. Trump has pointed to the success depicted in the daily videos to privately question why his administration can’t better influence the public narrative, asking aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what he’s seeing.
I just read this
"MAGA was 100% correct. If I voted for Kamala Harris, our economy would tank, the national debt would triple, gas prices will skyrocket, and we would be at war with Iran. Well, I voted for her and that’s exactly what happened."
The problem with the Government's in the thrall of the mad Miliband narrative is that its energy policy is identical to the previous government's. Not similar, identical, with one and a half exceptions. The one exception is the previous ban on onshore wind farms. Not even Badenoch claims the country is in a better state Vis a Vis Iran because of a lack of wind energy. The half exception is that the previous government ignored its own policy on no new drilling in the North Sea.
If Miliband is mad, logically the previous government was also mad for having the exact same policies. As a member of that government, Badenoch is simply drawing attention to her own supposed madness.
It's a trope. There's something about (North London lefty intellectual with an odd mix of intensity and geekiness) EM that lends itself to 'bogeyman' frothing. Or alternatively ridicule.
If we're really lucky we might even get a de facto lockdown
Huge energy price rises pile pressure on British companies
Warning of businesses going under as cost of gas set to rise by as much as 80 per cent, while electricity bills to increase by up to 30 per cent
Businesses across the UK are facing “eye-watering” rises in their energy bills because of the conflict in the Middle East, analysis for The Times suggests.
Unlike households, companies are not insulated from volatility in gas and electricity prices, which have almost doubled since the Iran war began.
The problem is particularly acute for the thousands of companies that fix their annual price tariff at the start of the financial year in April and will face an immediate sharp rise in their bills.
Analysis by the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight found that as a result of the conflict, business users’ electricity bills would rise by up to 30 per cent, while the cost of gas could go up by as much as 80 per cent. This would mean that a business such as a larger retail and leisure site, on an average 12-month electricity contract, would have an annual bill of £578,000 — £95,000 more than early last month.
For gas, bills have risen by £376,000, reaching just over £1.02 million a year, an increase of nearly 60 per cent, based on the latest wholesale prices.
On Tuesday Wael Sawan, the chief executive of Shell, warned that Europe risked fuel shortages as soon as next month. At an industry conference in Houston, Texas, he said the global oil and gas supply squeeze had already forced parts of Asia to cut energy consumption and that the “ripple effect” threatened to spread west within days.
Depressing. I’d much rather businesses were given some kind of some support - low interest government loans or similar - than handouts to people who can shoulder this. Loans that could bd used to install solar, heat pumps, batteries.
I include myself in this. We save for emergencies so can weather this out. We do huge mileage each year, but a lot of that is social, weekend driving that we can cut back on. We don’t need any help from the government.
OTOH , we don’t use much gas because we live in an energy-efficient flat, appropriate for two young-ish adults. I’m not sure why people like me should bail out those in big, detached houses. They’ve made their choice.
If only spongers on benefits are getting the help I doubt many will be in big detached houses , once again telling that you spew hatred on a handful of poor pensioners ( unlike the majority) who may have a decent house and no money.
Is this the “asset rich, cash poor” shite again? There’s another word for that - “rich”.
My grandparents downsized and then later went into sheltered housing to convert their wealth into income (and reduce their expenses). But they were public and family minded people who took personal responsibility for their finances and care needs. This country needs more people like them rather than the kind of grasper you want to protect.
Well, I had to google what TFW means, Kemi, cos I'm not down with the kids like you.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
Kemi and her front bench team are going to have to u-turn on this, so they are in future backed up by the science and the facts in what they are claiming.
No they don't. They say it won't change oil and gas prices, which it won't.
As a matter of economics, it will earn the country money, and won't make any difference at all to our oil and gas consumption.
We could even put the £2bn or so extra that government might earn into solar plus grid backup projects.
So there is no good argument not to do it.
The Unions game here is wholly interested in taxpayers money keeping people in jobs, by government subsidising any industry, anywhere, that’s not economically viable or profit making. That’s what Unions are doing in the lobby.
The industry lobby says it’s all government policy decision, not geology at all. Green Lobby says UK North Sea is waning due to geology, and UK policy is still too much commitment to drilling fossil fuel for far too long. Here’s an example of Green Lobby spin: https://www.upliftuk.org/post/the-declining-economics-of-the-north-sea
North Sea policy is a war. There’s various sides, each have vested interest in not sticking to fact or balance - including government with their net zero policy, and the Conservatives who invented net zero policy in office, but prefer to argue Populist position against net zero in opposition.
Truth is the first casualty of war. It’s very hard to for us to spot what’s smartest in long run with this one imho.
That's just babble. If the government allowed licenses for the new fields, industry would develop them at their own expense.
There's no argument about that.
As @Richard_Tyndall keeps pointing out, look at what the Norwegians are doing. With largely similar geology.
In some cases their fields are so close to the U.K. ones being shut down, that they will end up extracting oil from formations in the U.K. shutdown fields.
Starmer has gone viral with his head in his hands Davey outed himself again as a Labour super subscriber Reform did a walk out stunt that looked very foolish
Not as dull as it seemed
You're missing the biggie.
Big John Owls said Starmer won PMQs.
Yes, given his view of Starmer (lower than a snake's belly) that is what you call rock solid 24 carat testimony. The PM must have had an absolute stormer.
I know, it's like me saying nice things about Max Verstappen.
Plenty of nice things you can say about him without too much effort.
Well, I had to google what TFW means, Kemi, cos I'm not down with the kids like you.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
Starmer has gone viral with his head in his hands Davey outed himself again as a Labour super subscriber Reform did a walk out stunt that looked very foolish
Not as dull as it seemed
You're missing the biggie.
Big John Owls said Starmer won PMQs.
Yes, given his view of Starmer (lower than a snake's belly) that is what you call rock solid 24 carat testimony. The PM must have had an absolute stormer.
I know, it's like me saying nice things about Max Verstappen.
Round by me houses are selling with small drops in asking price. Although it’s all relative. A decent 3 bed detached with 1 bathroom goes for about £300K
House prices are seasonal. They go up on/after Easter, continue high until September, then stabilize/decline over Winter.
Having said that, I have also heard about the London flat price falling that isn't obviously seasonal.
Not just flats. London property is generally well off the peak.
Varies by area I think. Where we are in SE14 prices are down marginally. Our house price has still almost doubled since we bought it in 2011 (not allowing for the rennovation/extension work) according to Zoopla. We still get handwritten notes from people saying they want to buy our house, demand still seems quite strong.
It will vary quite a lot by area, yes, and I'm sure you're right about yours, but overall a more than marginal drop, I believe. Actual txn prices are the best indicator imo. Here, off about 15% since 22.
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
The Tories reduced the allowable margin (range) such that constituencies had to be more uniform than in all previous reviews. That is partly why there are so many peculiar seeming seats, as the wriggle room to make them more sensible was significantly removed.
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
Turn over the entire UK sector in the North Sea to Statoil. Norwegian tax and development rules apply. The Norwegian government turns over the tax revenue to the UK, minus 10 percent for their efforts.
Thanks for the correction. Exciting times for the Greens to be so close to overtaking the most successful political party of recent decades and centuries.
Sir Keir Starmer's national security adviser Jonathan Powell has been in talks with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister
They have been talking about the need to 'deepen co-operation in all fields and to effectively manage disputes', Reuters reports
Wang told Powell that 'all parties should avoid adding fuel to the first' on Iran
It is worth noting that we only know about the fact of this visit through the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV
There was no advance notice of the trip or briefing from the government at all
What the actual effing eff?
'Powell doing his job' shocker.
Didn't realise his job was to make us a Chinese satrapy, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense.
Pity the Chinese don't seem to share Sir Traitor's enthusiasm for the new detente, given that they sent him round the Forbidden City with a tourist guide because Xi couldn't be arsed. Perhaps they rightly realise they can give him orders without even an outward display of respect, and he'll take it.
It's a tough complex world, with threats galore, but paranoid isolationism is not the way. We are Great. We are Britain. We do not cower at home and refuse to go out.
Just don’t - as the Tories are - pretend it’s about energy bills.
Tax revenue is not the argument they are making.
You can actually make an argument that the tax can be either invested in more renewables or directly to reduce energy bills so it is a valid claim to the reduction of energy bills
Well, I had to google what TFW means, Kemi, cos I'm not down with the kids like you.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
So did I but I got Transformer world then something about train tickets.
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
IMHO we should not even consider attempting to rejoin until the EU has got over itself and accepted the democratic vote.
Sir Keir Starmer's national security adviser Jonathan Powell has been in talks with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister
They have been talking about the need to 'deepen co-operation in all fields and to effectively manage disputes', Reuters reports
Wang told Powell that 'all parties should avoid adding fuel to the first' on Iran
It is worth noting that we only know about the fact of this visit through the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV
There was no advance notice of the trip or briefing from the government at all
What the actual effing eff?
'Powell doing his job' shocker.
Didn't realise his job was to make us a Chinese satrapy, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense.
Pity the Chinese don't seem to share Sir Traitor's enthusiasm for the new detente, given that they sent him round the Forbidden City with a tourist guide because Xi couldn't be arsed. Perhaps they rightly realise they can give him orders without even an outward display of respect, and he'll take it.
It's a tough complex world, with threats galore, but paranoid isolationism is not the way. We are Great. We are Britain. We do not cower at home and refuse to go out.
Plus, we have no permanent friends - only interests.
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
At the end of the day we left and are a third country so have to now suck it up. The so called punishment beating mantra is one wheeled out when people don’t want to accept the consequences of leaving .
Well, I had to google what TFW means, Kemi, cos I'm not down with the kids like you.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
You can always tell when Kemi's having a bad day. Keir replies to her like an errant schoolgirl. I switched on half way through and I instantly recognised what was happening.
He's actually much more effective in that slightly patronising mode than when he gets angry. She's such a pouty head prefect it's very difficult to feel any empathy .
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
IMHO we should not even consider attempting to rejoin until the EU has got over itself and accepted the democratic vote.
They are treating as a non EEA, non-Shengen country. Isn't that what we voted for with Brexit?
Same as Canada, Australia or India as far as the EU is concerned.
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036807281182900657 It’s almost as if McSweeney deliberately misleading the police call handler to sow confusion. Says Belgrave Street, not Road. When call handler thinks it’s Belgrave Street in the East End and mentions Stepney, McSweeney does not correct the handler. Indeed he then confirms the thief turning at Stepney Green Park when the handler mentions that — knowing full well that couldn’t be true.
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036798205602476072 This whole McSweeney phone theft business is beginning to stink. The timing is incredibly convenient for a government that wants to cover up. Why did McSweeney report the theft to the police himself?Surely Downing Street security should have been immediately alerted — and they would handle it from there. Did McSweeney want to establish a record of him reporting it? Why did McSweeney never correct the police when it was clear they thought the theft had been in the East End and, of course, it happened in Westminster. Did McSweeney relish the confusion? Why did McSweeney not make clear the national security significance of it being his phone to the police? Was he worried they’d then take it seriously, unlike most phones thefts?
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
IMHO we should not even consider attempting to rejoin until the EU has got over itself and accepted the democratic vote.
It did, we left and it treats us as the 3rd country we voted to be, with some extra advantages.
What is it with leavers? It's like resigning from your golf club, stopping your membership fees and then getting all upset when they kindly request that you stop playing on the course.
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
Oh don't worry I'm pissed off with them too! Although of course they are not singling us out for punishment, they are just failing to give us special treatment which is annoying but not something we can insist on.
Just don’t - as the Tories are - pretend it’s about energy bills.
Tax revenue is not the argument they are making.
It’s not just the Tories.
Whenever you suggest it here there’s always someone to offer their worthless insight that it won’t reduce bills, totally ignoring you didn’t claim it would !!
But we are still importing 6.4% of our energy. We really need to close that gap and become a net exporter on days like this. (It was snowing in Aberdeen this morning).
I think it's the SE of England that's importing the energy across the channel. It all ties in to not having the grid infrastructure to get Scottish wind energy down to London, so we have to power London with French nuclear power.
So the question is why the grid infrastructure wasn't upgraded years ago, and the answer is the normal thing about short term profits, skimping on investment, a seeming inability to anticipate the future, infrastructure projects taking ages, etc.
Sir Keir Starmer's national security adviser Jonathan Powell has been in talks with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister
They have been talking about the need to 'deepen co-operation in all fields and to effectively manage disputes', Reuters reports
Wang told Powell that 'all parties should avoid adding fuel to the first' on Iran
It is worth noting that we only know about the fact of this visit through the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV
There was no advance notice of the trip or briefing from the government at all
What the actual effing eff?
'Powell doing his job' shocker.
Didn't realise his job was to make us a Chinese satrapy, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense.
Pity the Chinese don't seem to share Sir Traitor's enthusiasm for the new detente, given that they sent him round the Forbidden City with a tourist guide because Xi couldn't be arsed. Perhaps they rightly realise they can give him orders without even an outward display of respect, and he'll take it.
It's a tough complex world, with threats galore, but paranoid isolationism is not the way. We are Great. We are Britain. We do not cower at home and refuse to go out.
Plus, we have no permanent friends - only interests.
The USA falling into the hands of Donald Trump certainly brings that aphorism to life.
Just don’t - as the Tories are - pretend it’s about energy bills.
Tax revenue is not the argument they are making.
It’s not just the Tories.
Whenever you suggest it here there’s always someone to offer their worthless insight that it won’t reduce bills, totally ignoring you didn’t claim it would !!
The arguments made on this forum make perfect sense to me. But seemingly no politician is making them.
Badenoch has space here. Reform just thinks climate change is a hoax.
Just don’t - as the Tories are - pretend it’s about energy bills.
Tax revenue is not the argument they are making.
It's also not much about tax revenue. The complaint is that government is overtaxing North Sea oil and discouraging exploitation. So the intention is to reduce tax per barrel but maybe compensate by enabling more oil to be extracted.
On the last thread, @Alanbrooke blamed the UK's low birthrate on its 300,000 abortions per year.
So, I wonderd... is there a correlation between abortion legality and birthrates?
The three European countries -as far as I can tell- with the tightest laws on abortion are: Malta, Poland and Andorra.
In Malta, abortions are only available in the event of imminent danger to the mother's life. In Poland, abortion laws were really tightened up in 2020. And in Andorra they are basically completely illegal.
Malta has a TFR of 1.01. That's significantly worse than the UK. Andorra's TFR isn't much better, it's 1.09.
What about Poland... you'd expect it's TFR to have improved post the tightening of abortion controls, right?
Wrong. Their TFR remains mired at all time lows. In 2024, they had the fewest live births (240,000) in the post WW2 period.
And some of the countries with the least restrictive abortion laws (Bulgaria, France and Ireland) have some of the highest TFRs.
Basically: abortion access and legality don't seem to have any correlation with birthrates.
Quite an interesting video from Wheels for Wellbeing explaining why Chicane Barriers at the end of footpaths and cycle tracks are a bad thing, and destroy undermine accessibility and safety. 12 minutes.
Do they address the reasons these barriers are there in the first place, which is a small number of very antisocial youth on bikes and motorbikes making the paths unusable for pedestrians? Is there a compromise solution? Also bikes running straight into the road at the end, to be collected by a car.
They date back to before the antisocial youth on ebikes and motorbikes, surely?
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
IMHO we should not even consider attempting to rejoin until the EU has got over itself and accepted the democratic vote.
They are treating as a non EEA, non-Shengen country. Isn't that what we voted for with Brexit?
Same as Canada, Australia or India as far as the EU is concerned.
If you don't like it you should aupport Rejoin.
No. They., or at least elements of the EU, are looking to punish the UK for having the temerity to leave.
As an example look to the cost of Canada joining the SAFE rearmament programme (€10 million) compared to the price asked of the UK (between €4 billion and €6 billion)
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
Ah hem... almost all constituencies. There were -IIRC- three exceptions based around geographical isolation and spread.
Quite an interesting video from Wheels for Wellbeing explaining why Chicane Barriers at the end of footpaths and cycle tracks are a bad thing, and destroy undermine accessibility and safety. 12 minutes.
Do they address the reasons these barriers are there in the first place, which is a small number of very antisocial youth on bikes and motorbikes making the paths unusable for pedestrians? Is there a compromise solution? Also bikes running straight into the road at the end, to be collected by a car.
They date back to before the antisocial youth on ebikes and motorbikes, surely?
Not e-bikes, regular bicycles.
My memory is that most of the barriers were put there in the ‘80s, because of arsehole cyclists on narrow walkways between roads in new estates.
You shared Tweet and map about skipping the Straits of Hormuz was a good one. I can't help feel that a backup pipeline or two could be built suprisingly quickly if people put their minds to it. Now, it wouldn't be able to completely eliminate dependence on the Straits (not least because one needs ports as well as pipes), but it's empty desert, and one could probably get one done to the East of the Straits in six to nine months.
Likewise, expanding Saudi Arabia's export pipelines (Petroline to the Red Sea, and Tapline to Turkey and the Med) -while a longer term project- could be done in a year or two.
Quite an interesting video from Wheels for Wellbeing explaining why Chicane Barriers at the end of footpaths and cycle tracks are a bad thing, and destroy undermine accessibility and safety. 12 minutes.
Do they address the reasons these barriers are there in the first place, which is a small number of very antisocial youth on bikes and motorbikes making the paths unusable for pedestrians? Is there a compromise solution? Also bikes running straight into the road at the end, to be collected by a car.
They date back to before the antisocial youth on ebikes and motorbikes, surely?
Not e-bikes, regular bicycles.
Fair enough.
Also, I suspect to protect pedestrians agains MAMILs travelling too fast on mixed use paths. (Something which is much less of an issue now, given that bikelines are so much more prevalent.)
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
Ah hem... almost all constituencies. There were -IIRC- three exceptions based around geographical isolation and spread.
4, Orkney/Shetland, Western isles, Ynys Mon, and isle of Wight.
You shared Tweet and map about skipping the Straits of Hormuz was a good one. I can't help feel that a backup pipeline or two could be built suprisingly quickly if people put their minds to it. Now, it wouldn't be able to completely eliminate dependence on the Straits (not least because one needs ports as well as pipes), but it's empty desert, and one could probably get one done to the East of the Straits in six to nine months.
Likewise, expanding Saudi Arabia's export pipelines (Petroline to the Red Sea, and Tapline to Turkey and the Med) -while a longer term project- could be done in a year or two.
I literally drove past it today, there’s a concerted effort to get thousands of containers across the Gulf by road.
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
Ah hem... almost all constituencies. There were -IIRC- three exceptions based around geographical isolation and spread.
4, Orkney/Shetland, Western isles, Ynys Mon, and isle of Wight.
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
Ah hem... almost all constituencies. There were -IIRC- three exceptions based around geographical isolation and spread.
4, Orkney/Shetland, Western isles, Ynys Mon, and isle of Wight.
One LibDem; one SNP; one PC; one Conservative and one Labour.
Looks like Reform will have to stop accepting dodgy money through cryptocurrency.
I expect we’ll hear a load of whining about it being a witch hunt .
Doesn't seem unreasonable to prevent political parties taking untraceable anonymous money, especially in an age of malign foreign powers trying to buy influence in our politics. You'd think Reform would want to be "whiter than white" in this regard (no joke intended) what with their former Welsh leader doing time for taing Russian bribes. On this subject, did we ever find out which who provided that big payment to the leave campaign that was channeled through Northern Ireland to disguise its source?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me and, in spite of Nico’s Reform obsession it would affect all parties.
Of course Labour also has its own issues with Russian influence as well.
Brexit happened,get over it.
You don't need to tell me that, I spent an hour in a security line at Frankfurt Airport yesterday! Gave me plenty of time to curse the MFs who voted for it...
Odd that people choose not to blame the EU for the punishment beating needlessly applied
IMHO we should not even consider attempting to rejoin until the EU has got over itself and accepted the democratic vote.
They are treating as a non EEA, non-Shengen country. Isn't that what we voted for with Brexit?
Same as Canada, Australia or India as far as the EU is concerned.
If you don't like it you should aupport Rejoin.
No. They., or at least elements of the EU, are looking to punish the UK for having the temerity to leave.
As an example look to the cost of Canada joining the SAFE rearmament programme (€10 million) compared to the price asked of the UK (between €4 billion and €6 billion)
There is certainly an element of that and it's irritating and petty and absurd. But I think a lot of it is about using whatever leverage they have to gain advantages over a competitor. A lot of the impetus for this comes from France, which sees the UK as a major competitor and will use whatever levers it has at ts disposal to gain an advantage. One of their biggest levers is being in the EU single market, while we are not. They will use this lever mercilessly. They don't view Canada in those terms, because it is much more geographically distant, and so less of a threat, and so of course Canada gets a better deal. There is no point thinking of this as an emotional sort of thing, eg "punishment beatings". It is about strategic competition. Brexit was sold as our opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by being outside of the EU. So of course they are seeking to protect to themselves from this competition. We should treat this behaviour as an example of rational self interest on their part, not some kind of emotional outburst that we can tame by appealing to reason.
No. They., or at least elements of the EU, are looking to punish the UK for having the temerity to leave.
As an example look to the cost of Canada joining the SAFE rearmament programme (€10 million) compared to the price asked of the UK (between €4 billion and €6 billion)
Many in the UK don't grasp how the EU apparatus regards Brexit, because we often took a transactional view of our EU membership. To them it was a gross insult, a stinging rebuke of their ideology and a humiliation. It also cracked the wall of inevitability surrounding 'ever closer union'. Punishment has to be delivered, and be seen to be delivered, to make sure no current member ever considers taking the same path.
If Katie Lam is the future of anything then they are truly fucked.
Personally I think the next Tory defection will be to LD in a strong LD area, from a moderate one nation Tory who is unable to accept Badenoch death March right right right.
There aren't many Tory MPs from strong LD areas left though, most LD leaning areas in the likes of Surrey and Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and Berkshire already went LD at the 2024 general election. The few who did hold on in those areas like Hunt will stay Tory regardless
Here are the possible LD gains and the Tory candidates for defection to LDs:
East Hampshire: Damian Hinds Farnham and Bordon: Gregory Stafford Godalming and Ash : Sir Jeremy Hunt Hamble Valley: Paul Holmes Romsey and Southampton North : Caroline Nokes North Cotswolds: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown North Dorset: Simon Hoare
All unlikely defectors I think.
Indeed and less than 10% combined of the even relatively small current Tory parliamentary party, only ones I could see possibly going LD of those are Nokes and Hoare. Though if Cleverly replaced Badenoch as Tory leader after May I think even they would stay
Some of those are very strange constituencies. Farnham (posh Surrey town) and Bordon (run down ex military town with a shitload of new housing) have very little in common, ditto Godalming (equally posh Surrey town) and Ash (suburb of Aldershot).
Another bright idea from the Cameron days.
The rules given to the boundary commission were such that some strange constituencies were unavoidable but there is no perfect solution.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
They reduced the leeway from +- 8.5% from the mean to +- 5%. At the same time increasing the number of "protected" constituencies which are wildly out of whack from 2 to 5. There was nothing wrong with the 8.5% variance. The whole reasoning was to counter Labour's supposed greater vote efficiency. Which disappeared before the legislation was finalised. Leaving the current dog's breakfast.
Quite an interesting video from Wheels for Wellbeing explaining why Chicane Barriers at the end of footpaths and cycle tracks are a bad thing, and destroy undermine accessibility and safety. 12 minutes.
Do they address the reasons these barriers are there in the first place, which is a small number of very antisocial youth on bikes and motorbikes making the paths unusable for pedestrians? Is there a compromise solution? Also bikes running straight into the road at the end, to be collected by a car.
They date back to before the antisocial youth on ebikes and motorbikes, surely?
Not e-bikes, regular bicycles.
My memory is that most of the barriers were put there in the ‘80s, because of arsehole cyclists on narrow walkways between roads in new estates.
The moral of the story is don't mess with 5000 year old civilisations when you've got a moron in charge because everything they do will be smarter than what you're doing.
On the last thread, @Alanbrooke blamed the UK's low birthrate on its 300,000 abortions per year.
So, I wonderd... is there a correlation between abortion legality and birthrates?
The three European countries -as far as I can tell- with the tightest laws on abortion are: Malta, Poland and Andorra.
In Malta, abortions are only available in the event of imminent danger to the mother's life. In Poland, abortion laws were really tightened up in 2020. And in Andorra they are basically completely illegal.
Malta has a TFR of 1.01. That's significantly worse than the UK. Andorra's TFR isn't much better, it's 1.09.
What about Poland... you'd expect it's TFR to have improved post the tightening of abortion controls, right?
Wrong. Their TFR remains mired at all time lows. In 2024, they had the fewest live births (240,000) in the post WW2 period.
And some of the countries with the least restrictive abortion laws (Bulgaria, France and Ireland) have some of the highest TFRs.
Basically: abortion access and legality don't seem to have any correlation with birthrates.
What a stupid piece of analysis.
I didnt say abortion caused the demographic collapse. Thats down to easily accessible contraception, women delaying when to start a family and in the UK lpoliciies which dont support families.
I simply pointed out that murdering 300000 children a year doesnt help population growth. Which is of course true otherwise we would have an extra 7 million citizens in the country since 2000..
The moral of the story is don't mess with 5000 year old civilisations when you've got a moron in charge because everything they do will be smarter than what you're doing.
Quite an interesting video from Wheels for Wellbeing explaining why Chicane Barriers at the end of footpaths and cycle tracks are a bad thing, and destroy undermine accessibility and safety. 12 minutes.
Do they address the reasons these barriers are there in the first place, which is a small number of very antisocial youth on bikes and motorbikes making the paths unusable for pedestrians? Is there a compromise solution? Also bikes running straight into the road at the end, to be collected by a car.
That's a bit of a red herring. Such a chicane does not block motorcycles or cycles, and are essentially unlawful, and a litigation risk for whoever installs it. A motorbike is smaller, and more manoeuvrable, than a mobility scooter or some powerchairs, so how could they without blocking lawful path users?
It also not usually how it works.
They are typically installed not because there is a problem, but because someone believes there is a problem, or might be a problem. That is a concept I call "Shrodinger's ASBO Cyclist / Motorcyclist".
And when something is put in, and no problem continues to exist, that is then assumed to be the reason no problem exists, and there grows an irrational attachment to it. So trying to get it out again can be a bugger. Local Councillors can see them as an easy, relatively inexpensive, visible to voters, answer, so they like them.
Can you imagine such a thing being built on a busy side road/main road junction if there was a "pulling out of a sideroad" collision?
Guidance requires the least restrictive option, requires evidence that an issue exists, and supplies a hierarchy, but there are no time, no money, no knowledge and no training, so these get whacked in - often even when a eg a new estate is built.
The bald case is that they are not lawful, and do not do help anyway to any degree. We have remarks by the Supreme Court with a judgement that excluding lawful users is not a reasonable compromise for keeping unlawful ones out, and motorbikes etc are a matter for police enforcement.
The vid covers the safety risks such a barrier at a mobility track / road junction imposes and increases.
You shared Tweet and map about skipping the Straits of Hormuz was a good one. I can't help feel that a backup pipeline or two could be built suprisingly quickly if people put their minds to it. Now, it wouldn't be able to completely eliminate dependence on the Straits (not least because one needs ports as well as pipes), but it's empty desert, and one could probably get one done to the East of the Straits in six to nine months.
Likewise, expanding Saudi Arabia's export pipelines (Petroline to the Red Sea, and Tapline to Turkey and the Med) -while a longer term project- could be done in a year or two.
The gulf states have preferred to waste their money on sports washing.
But we are still importing 6.4% of our energy. We really need to close that gap and become a net exporter on days like this. (It was snowing in Aberdeen this morning).
I think it's the SE of England that's importing the energy across the channel. It all ties in to not having the grid infrastructure to get Scottish wind energy down to London, so we have to power London with French nuclear power.
So the question is why the grid infrastructure wasn't upgraded years ago, and the answer is the normal thing about short term profits, skimping on investment, a seeming inability to anticipate the future, infrastructure projects taking ages, etc.
We get covered in windmills so that London can get cheaper electricity and we pay much higher prices for the privilege and now you also want huge numbers of pylons to boot , what mugs we are being treated like shit.
Comments
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036798205602476072
This whole McSweeney phone theft business is beginning to stink.
The timing is incredibly convenient for a government that wants to cover up.
Why did McSweeney report the theft to the police himself?Surely Downing Street security should have been immediately alerted — and they would handle it from there.
Did McSweeney want to establish a record of him reporting it?
Why did McSweeney never correct the police when it was clear they thought the theft had been in the East End and, of course, it happened in Westminster. Did McSweeney relish the confusion?
Why did McSweeney not make clear the national security significance of it being his phone to the police? Was he worried they’d then take it seriously, unlike most phones thefts?
Just a thought, MI5 could have eyes on that phone 24/7, can someone get a warrant from a judge to the phone company for the movements of both the stolen phone and McSwinney’s personal phone that night?
If the government allowed licenses for the new fields, industry would develop them at their own expense.
There's no argument about that.
To create sensible (in your eyes) constituencies you would need constituencies of different sizes and should 1 person's vote be worth less than someone elses... The whole point of the last set of reforms was to ensure all constituencies were roughly 80-85,000 voters (don't remember the exact figure but I'm sure it's that).
As with Mr Vettel before, he’s slowly turning from a c*** into a human.
I do question the wisdom of her tweeting this sort of childish stuff out under her name rather than through the Central Office account. It speaks further to her lack of gravitas.
Pity the Chinese don't seem to share Sir Traitor's enthusiasm for the new detente, given that they sent him round the Forbidden City with a tourist guide because Xi couldn't be arsed. Perhaps they rightly realise they can give him orders without even an outward display of respect, and he'll take it.
"MAGA was 100% correct. If I voted for Kamala Harris, our economy would tank, the national debt would triple, gas prices will skyrocket, and we would be at war with Iran. Well, I voted for her and that’s exactly what happened."
https://electionmaps.uk/polling/vi
And also Central Office
https://x.com/Conservatives/status/2036786426113659036?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^2036786426113659036|twgr^77e57150e654a4bde791dbf1bd571cfc6dca6a31|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=https://app.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/03/25/politics-latest-news-pmqs-keir-starmer-kemi-badenoch-iran/
In some cases their fields are so close to the U.K. ones being shut down, that they will end up extracting oil from formations in the U.K. shutdown fields.
Eg He's a better driver than Lance Stroll...
Just don’t - as the Tories are - pretend it’s about energy bills.
Tax revenue is not the argument they are making.
Turn over the entire UK sector in the North Sea to Statoil. Norwegian tax and development rules apply. The Norwegian government turns over the tax revenue to the UK, minus 10 percent for their efforts.
Tories and Reform on equal vote share has got to be likely.
Bordon is a nothing place. An odd one.
He's actually much more effective in that slightly patronising mode than when he gets angry. She's such a pouty head prefect it's very difficult to feel any empathy .
Same as Canada, Australia or India as far as the EU is concerned.
If you don't like it you should aupport Rejoin.
Badenoch had a woeful load of questions and Starmer had some poor answers. He should just make a call on North Sea oil himself and be done with it.
However, Badenoch's judgment on the war has been horrendous. And for me that is not a good sign for her.
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036807281182900657
It’s almost as if McSweeney deliberately misleading the police call handler to sow confusion.
Says Belgrave Street, not Road. When call handler thinks it’s Belgrave Street in the East End and mentions Stepney, McSweeney does not correct the handler.
Indeed he then confirms the thief turning at Stepney Green Park when the handler mentions that — knowing full well that couldn’t be true.
https://x.com/afneil/status/2036798205602476072
This whole McSweeney phone theft business is beginning to stink.
The timing is incredibly convenient for a government that wants to cover up.
Why did McSweeney report the theft to the police himself?Surely Downing Street security should have been immediately alerted — and they would handle it from there.
Did McSweeney want to establish a record of him reporting it?
Why did McSweeney never correct the police when it was clear they thought the theft had been in the East End and, of course, it happened in Westminster. Did McSweeney relish the confusion?
Why did McSweeney not make clear the national security significance of it being his phone to the police? Was he worried they’d then take it seriously, unlike most phones thefts?
What is it with leavers? It's like resigning from your golf club, stopping your membership fees and then getting all upset when they kindly request that you stop playing on the course.
Whenever you suggest it here there’s always someone to offer their worthless insight that it won’t reduce bills, totally ignoring you didn’t claim it would !!
So the question is why the grid infrastructure wasn't upgraded years ago, and the answer is the normal thing about short term profits, skimping on investment, a seeming inability to anticipate the future, infrastructure projects taking ages, etc.
Badenoch has space here. Reform just thinks climate change is a hoax.
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2036777835541487657
https://x.com/megatron_ron/status/2036770837303271724
I’m a long way away from being worried by this crap.
So, I wonderd... is there a correlation between abortion legality and birthrates?
The three European countries -as far as I can tell- with the tightest laws on abortion are: Malta, Poland and Andorra.
In Malta, abortions are only available in the event of imminent danger to the mother's life. In Poland, abortion laws were really tightened up in 2020. And in Andorra they are basically completely illegal.
Malta has a TFR of 1.01. That's significantly worse than the UK. Andorra's TFR isn't much better, it's 1.09.
What about Poland... you'd expect it's TFR to have improved post the tightening of abortion controls, right?
Wrong. Their TFR remains mired at all time lows. In 2024, they had the fewest live births (240,000) in the post WW2 period.
And some of the countries with the least restrictive abortion laws (Bulgaria, France and Ireland) have some of the highest TFRs.
Basically: abortion access and legality don't seem to have any correlation with birthrates.
As an example look to the cost of Canada joining the SAFE rearmament programme (€10 million) compared to the price asked of the UK (between €4 billion and €6 billion)
My memory is that most of the barriers were put there in the ‘80s, because of arsehole cyclists on narrow walkways between roads in new estates.
You shared Tweet and map about skipping the Straits of Hormuz was a good one. I can't help feel that a backup pipeline or two could be built suprisingly quickly if people put their minds to it. Now, it wouldn't be able to completely eliminate dependence on the Straits (not least because one needs ports as well as pipes), but it's empty desert, and one could probably get one done to the East of the Straits in six to nine months.
Likewise, expanding Saudi Arabia's export pipelines (Petroline to the Red Sea, and Tapline to Turkey and the Med) -while a longer term project- could be done in a year or two.
Also, I suspect to protect pedestrians agains MAMILs travelling too fast on mixed use paths. (Something which is much less of an issue now, given that bikelines are so much more prevalent.)
https://x.com/salwashahi/status/2036581825800446410
The Saudi pipeline was basically dormant until a couple of weeks ago, and can now get 5m barrels a day out into the Red Sea.
As for a new pipeline, it would probably be easy so long as the enemy couldn’t bomb the construction sites.
That feels almost deliberate
NEW THREAD
There is no point thinking of this as an emotional sort of thing, eg "punishment beatings". It is about strategic competition. Brexit was sold as our opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by being outside of the EU. So of course they are seeking to protect to themselves from this competition. We should treat this behaviour as an example of rational self interest on their part, not some kind of emotional outburst that we can tame by appealing to reason.
At the same time increasing the number of "protected" constituencies which are wildly out of whack from 2 to 5.
There was nothing wrong with the 8.5% variance. The whole reasoning was to counter Labour's supposed greater vote efficiency. Which disappeared before the legislation was finalised.
Leaving the current dog's breakfast.
I thought it was great.
I didnt say abortion caused the demographic collapse. Thats down to easily accessible contraception, women delaying when to start a family and in the UK lpoliciies which dont support families.
I simply pointed out that murdering 300000 children a year doesnt help population growth. Which is of course true otherwise we would have an extra 7 million citizens in the country since 2000..
It also not usually how it works.
They are typically installed not because there is a problem, but because someone believes there is a problem, or might be a problem. That is a concept I call "Shrodinger's ASBO Cyclist / Motorcyclist".
And when something is put in, and no problem continues to exist, that is then assumed to be the reason no problem exists, and there grows an irrational attachment to it. So trying to get it out again can be a bugger. Local Councillors can see them as an easy, relatively inexpensive, visible to voters, answer, so they like them.
Can you imagine such a thing being built on a busy side road/main road junction if there was a "pulling out of a sideroad" collision?
Guidance requires the least restrictive option, requires evidence that an issue exists, and supplies a hierarchy, but there are no time, no money, no knowledge and no training, so these get whacked in - often even when a eg a new estate is built.
The bald case is that they are not lawful, and do not do help anyway to any degree. We have remarks by the Supreme Court with a judgement that excluding lawful users is not a reasonable compromise for keeping unlawful ones out, and motorbikes etc are a matter for police enforcement.
The vid covers the safety risks such a barrier at a mobility track / road junction imposes and increases.