No leads Yes by 33% in new independence poll – politicalbetting.com
No leads Yes by 33% in new independence poll – politicalbetting.com
Although Welsh people tend to expect a Plaid Cymru government to focus on independence, just 22% of Welsh people say they would vote "Yes" in an independence referendumYes: 22% (no change from 12-19 March)No: 55% (+1)yougov.com/en-gb/articl…
1
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
First.
Edit. No. Second.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIiEUE-Q8O8
"Falkenhayn's strategy did by and large work. It allowed the Germans to concentrate on the Eastern Front and eliminate Russia from WW1 in 1917.
It was only the very belated entry of the USA into the war (an unreliable ally then, as now), prompted mainly by a failed German gamble on unrestricted U boat warfare, which subsequently turned the tables when their numbers started to count from mid 1918."
The Americans were brought in to WW1 by Admiral "Blinker" Hall. I used to have his dress medals:
He was a bit of an arse by all accounts. He ended his days as a Conservative MP.
In Liverpool. How times change...
Getting from North to South Wales is a nightmare unless along either edge (coast or the English Wales border).
Some say that he recruited Canaris into British intelligence before the end of WWI
Which has to be one of the great long term wins of intelligence, if true.
MattW has linked her before.
She’s very smart and remembers where she’s from too.
But the most obvious differences are North Sea Oil and the Poll Tax.
If oil and gas had been discovered in Cardigan Bay, rather than the North Sea, and Thatcher had chosen to introduce the poll tax as a pilot in Wales before the rest of Britain, then perhaps the relative levels of support for independence in Scotland and Wales would be reversed.
Politics UK
@PolitlcsUK
🚨 NEW: The Golders Green terror suspect was previously referred to Prevent, the Government’s counter terrorism programme
He came to the UK from Somalia as a child in the early 1990s and is now a British citizen
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2049805031726108769
Do you expect the LibDems to win any new councils?
I've never seen this before.
To be serious (and repetitive) he is not the first case who turns out to be known to the authorities, whether Prevent or MI5, and also violent and mentally ill.
But maybe there are some PBers who know about how they work?
Do the expected Lib Dem gains point to any areas where they might hope to make progress at the next general election?
Javier Blas
@JavierBlas
CHART OF THE DAY: The 2022 European energy crisis was mostly about natural gas and electricity prices.
The shock of 2026 is (in Europe) largely about oil.
EU power markets remain largely stable (📉⤵️). A key reason is that France is producing lots of nuclear power this time.
https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/2049750189548753216
Starmer has to go. This summer.
Zack inspires Ed doesn't
https://www.markpack.org.uk/176720/6-ways-to-judge-the-liberal-democrat-election-results-ldn209/
I hadn't realised that if they make net gains (which seems highly likely) then they wil be on an eight year winning streak.
Did make me wonder whether monied socilaists are going Green now?
Another interesting move is a recent agreement between countries around the North Sea (9) to develop 100GW of 'hybrid' wind capacity jointly - the hybrid bit is direct connections to more than one country.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-europe-sign-historic-pact-to-drive-clean-energy-future
Never looked back and since Zack was elected things have gone from strength to strength
Just be grateful we had North Sea Oil revenues to get us out of that hole.
Confronting the hideous anti-Semitism now infesting Britain means confronting British Muslims, a significant minority of whom have anti-Semitic views, and are now quite unafraid to express them
Is the British establishment ready to have that very tough conversation?
This is not to deny the Semitism elsewhere in Britain. We have our own nasty domestic variety. Just look at jezbollah Corbyn, or some of the real weirdos on the new right. But nor can we deny we have ALSO imported this vile bigotry from the Islamic world
If we can’t do this I see no hope for Jews in Britain. In the end they will leave. Which is both shameful and tragic
Such is not unknown. Two examples known to me are a few Trans Activists using the complaints and reporting system as a way of effectively turning the police into an outsourced harassment subcontractor. Another was pressure in the noughties on solicitors challenging Chief Constable discretion to leave unconfirmed information to appear on enhanced DBS entries, or iirc challenging charges under Operation Ore.
I have seen even simple things like Council noise complaints systems used to harass neighbours, if a Council does not have a decent checks and balances setup.
In witness statements prepared for the courts, Chief Constable Balhatchet insisted all of the body-worn video had been released to her or deleted.
But eventually her lawyers obtained audit logs revealing such claims to be false - not only were there more videos, but they had been accessed by the police dozens of times.
"It became apparent they were watching the body-worn video, then days later making sworn witness statements saying it doesn't exist," says Buzzard-Quashie.
The revelations prompted the police to release more recordings in November.
Balhatchet admitted contempt of court and apologised in person to the Court of Appeal for the "appalling failures" of his force, which Lord Justice Fraser described as "wilfully disobedient".
He was ordered to pay a £50,000 fine and to date, more than £250,000 in legal costs.
"People need to know that when you sign a statement to the civil courts, it's got to be true to the best of your knowledge," says Buzzard-Quashie's solicitor Marc Livingston.
The executive under Trump does what the hell it likes and there's barely a beep from Congress apart from Collins expressing her regular "concern".
Meanwhile now it seems the justices think that as they say they have seen evidence that the Act has done its job and so is no longer needed then they can amend "the framework" of how the law works.
Erm... that's the legislating branch of the government's job not the the court!
https://x.com/politicalpics/status/2049809411313455275
I don’t want to spread false rumours but those of you who remember podium man from previous resignations, he just went into No10 !!
I just want get away from the terrible wankers that the English elect and therefore govern us. We of course have our own wankers and despite the absolutely pisspoor opposition, at least don’t have them imposed on us.
Key US science panels are being axed — and others are becoming less open
A Nature analysis shows that the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 advisory committees to science agencies — and reduced the transparency and independence of those that remain.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01301-5
Blanche: It's depends...
https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2049578629080769009
This is pernicious bullshit.
As it is at the moment we are producing 103% of our consumption so we are net exporters. We are importing a chunk from France but exporting more to others.
https://x.com/outofunion/status/2049488174913552548
THEY’RE AT IT AGAIN..
Scottish grown produce stamped with a butcher’s apron.
I wanted some new season fruit.. but they had a “Jack” .. so I put them back.
No sale today Lidl. Went to Aldi instead.
That would require us to have slashed spending to a tiny fraction of what it was.
What spending would you have slashed and when?
I watched an interesting discussion between David Starkey and the Editor of The New Statesman (soeaking in support of SKS) on YT. On the one hand he was hailing the minimum wage rise, on the other, waxing lyrical about how shop workers could afford to buy houses in 1991. Can he not join a simple dot?
For some reason in my head I pictured it as one of those medium income African countries doing OK. A Botswana or a Namibia
It really isn’t. Botswana gdp per capita is $7000, Namibia is $5000. Rwanda is $1000. It is hardcore poor and in the bottom 25 poorest nations on earth
That makes the gulf between a western visitor and the locals very wide. And also curious when you zoom out
Look at it this way. A billionaire in the UK earns about 500 times more than me. But I earn about 700 times what a rural rural Rwandan earns
An affluent western visitor in Rwanda is functionally Elon musk. Inconceivably wealthier. Wealthier in a way it is hard for a Rwandan to comprehend apart from the fact the westerner is very very very rich
For some reason in my head I pictured it as one of those medium income African countries doing OK. A Botswana or a Namibia
It really isn’t. Botswana gdp per capita is $7000, Namibia is $5000. Rwanda is $1000. It is hardcore poor and in the bottom 25 poorest nations on earth
That makes the gulf between a western visitor and the locals very wide. And also curious when you zoom out
Look at it this way. A billionaire in the UK earns about 500 times more than me. But I earn about 700 times what a rural rural Rwandan earns
An affluent western visitor in Rwanda is functionally Elon musk. Inconceivably wealthier. Wealthier in a way it is hard for a Rwandan to comprehend apart from the fact the westerner is very very very rich
For some reason in my head I pictured it as one of those medium income African countries doing OK. A Botswana or a Namibia
It really isn’t. Botswana gdp per capita is $7000, Namibia is $5000. Rwanda is $1000. It is hardcore poor and in the bottom 25 poorest nations on earth
That makes the gulf between a western visitor and the locals very wide. And also curious when you zoom out
Look at it this way. A billionaire in the UK earns about 500 times more than me. But I earn about 700 times what a rural rural Rwandan earns
An affluent western visitor in Rwanda is functionally Elon musk. Inconceivably wealthier. Wealthier in a way it is hard for a Rwandan to comprehend apart from the fact the westerner is very very very rich
For some reason in my head I pictured it as one of those medium income African countries doing OK. A Botswana or a Namibia
It really isn’t. Botswana gdp per capita is $7000, Namibia is $5000. Rwanda is $1000. It is hardcore poor and in the bottom 25 poorest nations on earth
That makes the gulf between a western visitor and the locals very wide. And also curious when you zoom out
Look at it this way. A billionaire in the UK earns about 500 times more than me. But I earn about 700 times what a rural rural Rwandan earns
An affluent western visitor in Rwanda is functionally Elon musk. Inconceivably wealthier. Wealthier in a way it is hard for a Rwandan to comprehend apart from the fact the westerner is very very very rich
Deal with the facts of where we actually were in the late 70s rather than where you would have liked us to be.
And NS oil had damaging Dutch disease side effects on the rest of the economy in making the exchange rate more volatile, because sterling was heavily influenced by oil prices for a while.
https://x.com/JPLindsley/status/2049425348689821729
JD Vance refused to clap for “nature,” during the King’s speech to Congress.
Even Speaker Mike Johnson was puzzled. In fact, he looked a bit afraid as he rose to clap while JD, emissary of the White House and president of the Senate, sat silently. But the Speaker found the courage to clap anyhow..
Got the sour faced VP reluctantly clapping at the end.
Someone put a lot of effort into writing it.
I’m also enjoying following on the app (and we also have them in France generating a lot more than we can manage in London).
Ban Twitter. It's full of antisemitism. From the right, from the left.
That's a pretty decent recovery given Green and Reform have many more councillors than in past decades (and will surely have plenty of additions to shout about next Friday) but still a bit lower than 2010.
Some other benchmarks to look for. The Tory nadir in 1996 was 18.7% and they are currently at 23.8%. The Labour nadir was 21.5% in 2009 and they are currently at 32.9%. So both still have a bit of space even if they have very bad nights as expected, but might start looking over their shoulders. The Tories in particular had 44.7% even in 2018 after eight years in office, so quite a dip in recent years.
Imagine if we had invested everyone’s NI contributions over the last 70 years.