I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
That would probably command majority public support. One caveat is the way in which Trump campaigned on deporting "the worst of the worst" criminals, and has done no such thing.
In the "this is already the law" category asylum application are paused if an applicant is charged with an offence that could result in a sentence of 12 months or more visas refused or cancelled if convicted and sentenced to 12 months or more and discretion to refuse for sentences less than 12 months.
And if the person has ILR? That all sounds like relatively short-term visas
Same for ILR
And how often do deportations actually happen?
That is generally the issue. It is hard to deport people even if they are deemed illegal. Perhaps for convicts it is easier as at least the system should know where they are!
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
That would probably command majority public support. One caveat is the way in which Trump campaigned on deporting "the worst of the worst" criminals, and has done no such thing.
In the "this is already the law" category asylum application are paused if an applicant is charged with an offence that could result in a sentence of 12 months or more visas refused or cancelled if convicted and sentenced to 12 months or more and discretion to refuse for sentences less than 12 months.
And if the person has ILR? That all sounds like relatively short-term visas
Same for ILR
And how often do deportations actually happen?
Why not google it? Or don't you want to be bothered with the actual facts? More people are being deported under this government than the last one.
What an extraordinary win. From zero votes to almost half the votes (and with a decent turnout for a local)
There’s been lots of speculation that Reform will underperform expectations on May 7. The opposite could also occur
Unless the Reform is the same person who used to be the Malvern Hills Indy.
Even if he is it means a LOT of people in Malvern are not put off by the Reform branding. And Malvern Hills (which I know well) is not classic Reform territory
It feels like we could wake up in a country with completely different political geography next Friday. The realignment that Brexit hinted was possible will finally arrive.
I note that the Economist, through gritted teeth, is now admitting that Brexit did not damage The City as they predicted
“The City has bounced back despite fears over Brexit”
Last week they were saying similar things about farming and the post-Brexit restructuring of subsidies.
They usually accompany it with phrases like "rare Brexit benefit" though - they can't quite bring themselves to admit that the massive damage they foresaw hasn't really happened.
The City has actually closed the gap, again, on NYC. It could feasibly rank, once more, as the world’s leading financial centre in a year or two
It’s raced ahead in some areas even as in others - like the LSE - it has stumbled
The hopes that Paris, Milan or Frankfurt would take over turned out to be grossly exaggerated
On Tenbury. A Con councillor resigned not an indie causing the by-election: Andrew Wilmott
It's a two seat ward as far as I can see and the Malvern Indie is the other councillor.
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I dunno. I seem to be doing OK for someone with diminished cognitive capacity
You’re alone in a sad house in Ventnor. I’m lying in a hammock on the balcony in my free five star safari lodge in Rwanda, watching this hippo as he surfaces in the lake
Imagine what I could achieve if my brain wasn’t addled. I’d probably be intergalactic Pope, or something
Like I said, years back, you had relevant insight to offer. Now you’re just lying drunk in some hammock watching a hippo. If only your account name hadn’t changed so often, PB’ers would be one click away from being able to map your cognitive decline.
But considering Reform got 45.1% from zero, the Tories only dropping 2.1% is frankly amazing.
Greens to LD is interesting too. Not quite alligning wth expectations.
Not really. Neither Green nor LD voters will touch reform with a barge pole, and Labour and Tory are two cheeks of the same arse that has sat on any reform of our political system for my entire lifetime. As a signed up LibDem, I’ve voted Green now for each of the last three GEs.
And you still think yourself a LibDem?
Plenty who will vote Tory knowing it will be alost cause, rather than going for a "winning here" vote for Reform.
If the LDs can find a decent candidate, I’d be up for backing him or her next time. But the reality is that my seat looks like being a battle between the Tory MP and Reform, neither of whom I can vote for, so the only hope is that a centre left candidate can come through the middle. And right now that looks impossible for either Labour or LibDem.
Several of the MRPs have East Wight going Green, and Vix does seem an excellent candidate. Presumably in West Wight the best "stop Reform candidate" is the Labour incumbent.
Vix Lowthion was the Green candidate in 2024, coming third with 6,313 votes behind Reform (7,104) and Conservatives (10,427)
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
But considering Reform got 45.1% from zero, the Tories only dropping 2.1% is frankly amazing.
Greens to LD is interesting too. Not quite alligning wth expectations.
Not really. Neither Green nor LD voters will touch reform with a barge pole, and Labour and Tory are two cheeks of the same arse that has sat on any reform of our political system for my entire lifetime. As a signed up LibDem, I’ve voted Green now for each of the last three GEs.
And you still think yourself a LibDem?
Plenty who will vote Tory knowing it will be alost cause, rather than going for a "winning here" vote for Reform.
If the LDs can find a decent candidate, I’d be up for backing him or her next time. But the reality is that my seat looks like being a battle between the Tory MP and Reform, neither of whom I can vote for, so the only hope is that a centre left candidate can come through the middle. And right now that looks impossible for either Labour or LibDem.
Several of the MRPs have East Wight going Green, and Vix does seem an excellent candidate. Presumably in West Wight the best "stop Reform candidate" is the Labour incumbent.
I’d doubt it, next time. If stopping Reform is the only goal, voting for the former Tory MP Seely, who may well try for it again, is the best option. Not that I would myself ever vote for a Tory.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
The council sees business rates paid The government sees taxes paid on every penny - employment taxes, profits, VAT. The lot - unless the people running it are very very stupid. The owners get washed money
What's the problem?
You don't think these businesses go insolvent owing HMRC? PPE medpro (Mone and Barrowman) owed HMRC £39m, I think your local money laundering operation will have realised they can go insolvent owing HMRC 5 figures without much fuss.
The smarter ones realise, I think, that paying tax is kicking money up to a higher gang boss. My local barber shop raised the pay for employees, re-did the inside, even tidied up the outside of the shop. Though they only ever have two people working there, despite having 6 chairs. The previous owner would have a minimum of 4 people working all the time.
If the level of money laundering is as many think it is, there is an enormous incentive for the authorities to look away.
Is it still cash laundering, or are cards somehow involved now?
The started taking cards after the new chap took over - part of the modernisation.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
How difficult would it be to monitor high street traffic and pursue what must be massive discrepancies between reported turnover and the amount of footfall ?
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
He is still being chased by the Trans Gay Illegal Immigrant Alien AIs, of course.
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
Ukraine is claiming to have hit several military jets in a strike on Shagol airbase, about 1,700km from Ukraine. More than one SU-57 and an SU-34, with satellite imagery confirming the attack said to have been on 25th April.
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
I didn't mention any names. And some moron gave you a like for it too!
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
Tymoshenko lost the 2010, 2014 and 2019 presidential elections in Ukraine
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
In of itself it is not, but it's going quite quickly in that direction. How would you feel if someone was discussing your personal details when you hadn't offered it yourself?
But considering Reform got 45.1% from zero, the Tories only dropping 2.1% is frankly amazing.
Greens to LD is interesting too. Not quite alligning wth expectations.
Not really. Neither Green nor LD voters will touch reform with a barge pole, and Labour and Tory are two cheeks of the same arse that has sat on any reform of our political system for my entire lifetime. As a signed up LibDem, I’ve voted Green now for each of the last three GEs.
I agree that yer stereotypical sandal-wearing muesli-muncher won't be going off to Reform. But the LD vote has traditionally been a lot wider than that, including a large NOTA vote - a lot of this has gone to Reform, notably in the south west.
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
In of itself it is not, but it's going quite quickly in that direction. How would you feel if someone was discussing your personal details when you hadn't offered it yourself?
I think every poster has a "real life" name, although I could be wrong. Back in the day most of is used a close derivation of our actual name, so I could be referring to dozens of posters. Have you correctly guessed the poster's real name on information I have provided. No.
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
When Labour is desperately in need of a complete reset, the best these out of touch numpties can come up with is the idea of shuffling the leadership across from the current PM to the Chief Secretary to the PM, Starmer's right hand man at No 10.
Other more credible reports today say it's come down to being a contest between Rayner and Streeting. "We can’t wait for Burnham, Labour MPs say as race to replace Starmer comes down to Rayner vs Streeting"
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Russia’s oil refining runs fell to an average of 4.69 million barrels per day in April amid Ukrainian attacks on refineries, the lowest level since December 2009, Bloomberg reported on April 30. ... “Lower refining volumes also limit Russia’s ability to increase oil production, which has remained well below its OPEC+ quota for months.”
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
In of itself it is not, but it's going quite quickly in that direction. How would you feel if someone was discussing your personal details when you hadn't offered it yourself?
Almost as bad as someone constantly referring to his ‘stalker’ always turning up at the locations of his perpetual travelogue, or pinching his ideas (which he pinches from here) for gamey midwit articles in reactionary publications.
At least I get to do some real politics occassionally. Just had a 20 minute argument (couldn't quite do the full half hour) with the Newham Independents (NIP) who are canvassing in my Ward - late in the day but perhaps a sign of confidence (or over-confidence).
A very earnest lady telling me it's all about "the residents" while I was trying to explain to her what an uncosted pledge meant. The NIP are going to win (I suspect) by the old-fashioned route of promising the sun, the moon and the stars.
Among their gems is a commitment to freeze council tax for four years starting from next April. Now, that's achievable if you are prepared to cut services and streamline business processes. I asked her what services the NIP was going to cut - needless to say, I got a diatribe about how Labour have been lying and how they've got lots of money.
The NIP want to abolish the parking permit cost and the cost of bulky waste collection (Labour has committed to that as well). The NIP are also pledged to re-instating the Council run Fireworks Display at Wanstead Flats (which the current Labour administration scrapped after Covid on the basis of cost along with the summer open air concert in Central Park).
On top of that, every child is going to get a football, a cricket set, a table tennis set AND a badminton set paid for by the Council but again the activist had no clue as to how all this was to be funded except to say "Mr Mirza has a plan" which I don't find very reassuring.
Now, you might think the other parties might be more sensible but you'd be wrong - the Conservative Mayoral hopeful wants to re-open all the front desks at operational Police stations - fine, except all the stations were sold by Boris Johnson when Mayor. She also wants Newham to sell their offices for £120 million which is a drop in the ocean and can only be done once.
I'm now at the point of considering voting Labour tactically to stop the NIP.
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I dunno. I seem to be doing OK for someone with diminished cognitive capacity
You’re alone in a sad house in Ventnor. I’m lying in a hammock on the balcony in my free five star safari lodge in Rwanda, watching this hippo as he surfaces in the lake
Imagine what I could achieve if my brain wasn’t addled. I’d probably be intergalactic Pope, or something
Like I said, years back, you had relevant insight to offer. Now you’re just lying drunk in some hammock watching a hippo. If only your account name hadn’t changed so often, PB’ers would be one click away from being able to map your cognitive decline.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Returns of FNOs [foreign national offenders] have been increasing since 2021, with the year ending June 2025 now similar to levels seen in the year ending June 2019.
It goes on:
Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented the most common nationality for FNO returns in each of the last 4 years. The UK-Albania Joint Communique signed in December 2022 strengthened data sharing between the UK and Albania and has supported the removal of Albanian national offenders.
Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian and Malaysian nationals additionally make up the top 5 most common nationalities of foreign offenders returned from the UK in the year ending June 2025 (See Figure 3).
There's a surprising statistic that there were more deportations under Obama than now under Trump (adjusting for time in office, obv). The Obama administration focused on deporting foreign offenders in an efficient manner. The Trump administration focuses on performative violence, ICE driving around and arresting brown people. Labour are, perhaps, following an Obama approach, while Reform UK talk of wanting a British ICE. Will Labour get any credit for steady increases in deportation of foreign offenders?
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
At least I get to do some real politics occassionally. Just had a 20 minute argument (couldn't quite do the full half hour) with the Newham Independents (NIP) who are canvassing in my Ward - late in the day but perhaps a sign of confidence (or over-confidence).
A very earnest lady telling me it's all about "the residents" while I was trying to explain to her what an uncosted pledge meant. The NIP are going to win (I suspect) by the old-fashioned route of promising the sun, the moon and the stars.
Among their gems is a commitment to freeze council tax for four years starting from next April. Now, that's achievable if you are prepared to cut services and streamline business processes. I asked her what services the NIP was going to cut - needless to say, I got a diatribe about how Labour have been lying and how they've got lots of money.
The NIP want to abolish the parking permit cost and the cost of bulky waste collection (Labour has committed to that as well). The NIP are also pledged to re-instating the Council run Fireworks Display at Wanstead Flats (which the current Labour administration scrapped after Covid on the basis of cost along with the summer open air concert in Central Park).
On top of that, every child is going to get a football, a cricket set, a table tennis set AND a badminton set paid for by the Council but again the activist had no clue as to how all this was to be funded except to say "Mr Mirza has a plan" which I don't find very reassuring.
Now, you might think the other parties might be more sensible but you'd be wrong - the Conservative Mayoral hopeful wants to re-open all the front desks at operational Police stations - fine, except all the stations were sold by Boris Johnson when Mayor. She also wants Newham to sell their offices for £120 million which is a drop in the ocean and can only be done once.
I'm now at the point of considering voting Labour tactically to stop the NIP.
Sadly I think we are at the points where we need the clowns to be elected so we see them completely fail
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Returns of FNOs [foreign national offenders] have been increasing since 2021, with the year ending June 2025 now similar to levels seen in the year ending June 2019.
It goes on:
Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented the most common nationality for FNO returns in each of the last 4 years. The UK-Albania Joint Communique signed in December 2022 strengthened data sharing between the UK and Albania and has supported the removal of Albanian national offenders.
Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian and Malaysian nationals additionally make up the top 5 most common nationalities of foreign offenders returned from the UK in the year ending June 2025 (See Figure 3).
There's a surprising statistic that there were more deportations under Obama than now under Trump (adjusting for time in office, obv). The Obama administration focused on deporting foreign offenders in an efficient manner. The Trump administration focuses on performative violence, ICE driving around and arresting brown people. Labour are, perhaps, following an Obama approach, while Reform UK talk of wanting a British ICE. Will Labour get any credit for steady increases in deportation of foreign offenders?
No. Partly their own fault as they don't really tell anyone. Partly media bias. Mostly stereotypes of Labour = weak on immigration, The Right = strong on immigration that won't go away anytime soon even if not backed by any reality either way around.
I'm now at the point of considering voting Labour tactically to stop the NIP.
Good lord it must be bad !
It's probably the heat - IF MIrza and the NIP win, they will be fine this year as they are on the Labour budget passed in February but the 2027/28 Budget is going to be enetertaining.
IF, as @RochdalePioneers and others suggest, fuel prices drive inflation higher, trying to hold down Council Tax without swingeing cuts to services looks inconceivable. Mirza will of course blame this and central Government when he has to break his campaign pledge and raise the Council Tax.
The echo of George HW Bush resonates through the streets of East Ham this fine Friday afternoon.....
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
I would agree with this but for the all too frequent links to articles in the Spectator by his, er, stalker. I get that he uses a convenient fiction for 'reasons' but he isn't trying that hard to be anonymous.
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
In of itself it is not, but it's going quite quickly in that direction. How would you feel if someone was discussing your personal details when you hadn't offered it yourself?
Almost as bad as someone constantly referring to his ‘stalker’ always turning up at the locations of his perpetual travelogue, or pinching his ideas (which he pinches from here) for gamey midwit articles in reactionary publications.
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
If we can please get back on topic, I lost a gilet yesterday on a game drive. I got over excited as we watched lions fighting buffalo and my gilet somehow bounced out of the Landcruiser and I didn’t notice. If anyone is in east Rwanda near Lake Rwanyakizinga, in the next few days, I’d be hugely grateful if they could have a look for it, by the weaver bird tree on the southern shore. It’s around there somewhere
Otherwise I fear I’ll have to buy a new one. Up til now I’ve always bought Hilfiger gilets but maybe it’s time to experiment. I like the light puffer packable ones. Any recommendations?
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Clearly something I was unaware of. Maybe I'm exposed to too much right wing stuff on Twitter (which I do my best to ignore) maybe the government doesn't tell us enough about it. I can imagine the latter, certainly Shabana Mahmood has already come under fire from her own party.
The "employment" fronts are clearly facilitating organised crime though, so maybe should be more of a priority than the nature of the crimes prosecuted suggests. If we keep deporting people running the vape shops, the king pins will find they can't rent them to anyone.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
The council sees business rates paid The government sees taxes paid on every penny - employment taxes, profits, VAT. The lot - unless the people running it are very very stupid. The owners get washed money
What's the problem?
You don't think these businesses go insolvent owing HMRC? PPE medpro (Mone and Barrowman) owed HMRC £39m, I think your local money laundering operation will have realised they can go insolvent owing HMRC 5 figures without much fuss.
The smarter ones realise, I think, that paying tax is kicking money up to a higher gang boss. My local barber shop raised the pay for employees, re-did the inside, even tidied up the outside of the shop. Though they only ever have two people working there, despite having 6 chairs. The previous owner would have a minimum of 4 people working all the time.
If the level of money laundering is as many think it is, there is an enormous incentive for the authorities to look away.
Is it still cash laundering, or are cards somehow involved now?
The started taking cards after the new chap took over - part of the modernisation.
They probably still put the same volume of cash through, although not from actual customers.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Clearly something I was unaware of. Maybe I'm exposed to too much right wing stuff on Twitter (which I do my best to ignore) maybe the government doesn't tell us enough about it. I can imagine the latter, certainly Shabana Mahmood has already come under fire from her own party.
The "employment" fronts are clearly facilitating organised crime though, so maybe should be more of a priority than the nature of the crimes prosecuted suggests. If we keep deporting people running the vape shops, the king pins will find they can't rent them to anyone.
The shops are being left to trading standards who with the best will in the world, are not going to be capable of taking on international organised crime. Its the kind of work that needs a strong national policing agency.
I hadn't realised Louisiana had already sent out early voting ballots. And the MAGA governor has declared a state of emergency to suspend the election, so they Republicans can force through a last minute gerrymander (a thing which Kavanaugh when concurring in the VRA decision denied would happen).
'Labour ministers and MPs have launched an “anyone but Ange” campaign in an attempt to keep Angela Rayner out of No 10 after the local elections
The former deputy prime minister is considering mounting a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after next week’s local elections, depending on how poorly Labour performs across the country
Her ambitions are alarming some MPs who fear the party could end up “sleepwalking” into a Rayner premiership if she gets enough early momentum behind her
They are concerned that if the former deputy prime minister gets enough support among MPs to reach the final two she would easily win thanks to her popularity with the grassroots Labour membership
“A lot of us are saying ‘anyone but Ange’,” a minister said. Another Labour MP noted “a big … ‘anyone but Ange’ sentiment”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has also long been considered a frontrunner to succeed Starmer. However, there are doubts about whether he could beat Rayner thanks to his image within the party as a Blairite and the perception he was close to Lord Mandelson
This conclusion has led some MPs to suggest alternatives. A joint ticket of Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, and John Healey, the defence secretary, is being discussed as an option to stop Rayner'
Anyone but Ange, or anyone without a vaj? Labour has managed not to have a woman leader yet, fifty years after the Tories first did. Other than a couple of times when the deputy (a position which it seems it is OK for a woman to hold) stepped in to cover a vacancy.
Traditional Labour seems deeply conservative in this regard, as are I suspect some of their people from ethnic minority communities
Generally victorious woman leaders come from the right not the left
Apart from Thatcher and victorious is a silly description, what other women from the right are you referring to
It is certainly true that the field is overwhelmed with dangerous war mongering men, even some professing to be Christian who are the very antithesis of the teachings of Christ
Meloni, Merkel, Takaichi etc as well as Thatcher.
Whereas left/liberal female leaders eg Hillary, Truss, Harris, Royal etc either lost or in the case of Gillard scraped home in a hung parliament (May the rightwing exception on that front). Sturgeon is perhaps the most notable exception along with Golda Meir
Left/liberal female leaders would include Gro Harlem Brundtland, Corazon Aquino, Claudia Sheinbaum, Édith Cresson, Xiomara Castro, and Yulia Tymoshenko.
Cresson never won even a legislative election and Mitterand removed her as PM after just a year after the disastrous Socialist performance in the 1992 regional elections in France. Castro lost 2/3 presidential elections she fought in Honduras. Aquino lost the only election she fought in 1986 to Marcos, she just overturned it in court
If we can please get back on topic, I lost a gilet yesterday on a game drive. I got over excited as we watched lions fighting buffalo and my gilet somehow bounced out of the Landcruiser and I didn’t notice. If anyone is in east Rwanda near Lake Rwanyakizinga, in the next few days, I’d be hugely grateful if they could have a look for it, by the weaver bird tree on the southern shore. It’s around there somewhere
Otherwise I fear I’ll have to buy a new one. Up til now I’ve always bought Hilfiger gilets but maybe it’s time to experiment. I like the light puffer packable ones. Any recommendations?
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
I didn't mention any names. And some moron gave you a like for it too!
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Clearly something I was unaware of. Maybe I'm exposed to too much right wing stuff on Twitter (which I do my best to ignore) maybe the government doesn't tell us enough about it. I can imagine the latter, certainly Shabana Mahmood has already come under fire from her own party.
The "employment" fronts are clearly facilitating organised crime though, so maybe should be more of a priority than the nature of the crimes prosecuted suggests. If we keep deporting people running the vape shops, the king pins will find they can't rent them to anyone.
The shops are being left to trading standards who with the best will in the world, are not going to be capable of taking on international organised crime. Its the kind of work that needs a strong national policing agency.
Trading standards, since austerity gutted local government funding, can't even take on local, disorganised crime much.
According to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, spending on trading standards has been cut by 50% over the past decade and staffing levels have fallen by 30%-50%.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Solar update - yesterday was our first full day of generation - we generated over 30kWh which was more than 3x our own electricity consumption. I would recommend anyone with the financial and logistical ability to go for it.
When is your estimated break even? (My friend was quoted about years, but thinks it will be six).
As soon as you get it the Govt will diss the incentives cf electric cars....
From your second link: The Hebrew University's Faculty of Comparative Religion also took to social media to express its shock at the "heinous and utterly dangerous hate crime," which it said was "part of a deeply disturbing rise in Christianophobia that is becoming alarmingly prevalent in the Old City of Jerusalem and in many other places across Israel."
Christianophobia is a word I've not seen before. What happened to live and let live?
Persecution of Christians is not especially uncommon. There is a reflexive reaction from more progressive types about it, since it became a cause with the American Right. More Culture War nonsense.
Is that really at a level of persecution?
It very much depends on your definition of "persecution", and on your definition of "Christian". It is a spectrum, and needs thought.
There's a fair bit of distortion of persecution reports to meet political agendas, and there is also a level at which "persecution" blends into "discrimination".
What would you call the following?
Criminal punishment for conversion from Islam, or practicing Christianity at home? Arson attacks on Orthodox churches in Egypt? Russian imprisonment of Jehovah's witnesses? Hegseth applying his particular 'Christian' values to Christians in the armed forces who do not meet his criteria eg he sacked his Chief of Chaplains, and expelled some self-identified Christians as part of his wider purges. Campaigns by secularists in the UK that the right of Christians (or others) in the NHS to refuse to take part in abortion procedures be abolished? Same sex marriage not being fully equal in the Church of England? Being prevented from protesting outside an abortion clinic?
Persecution in a faith based context is being prevented from freely worshipping and attacks on places of worship, everything else above is merely a different view on a social issue
I agree, and it needs much discernment as there are grey boundaries.
One recent example was the protests in the church services in Minneapolis (I think) where the pastor was a senior staff member of ICE.
Another older one was the naked "Lady Godiva" protest by a woman in Coventry Cathedral when there was a service for the centenary of the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11HLOputkM
Peter Tatchell did something similar iirc wrt Gay Rights, interrupting a service.
But a large crowd outside may intimidate. Also but Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the Gospels.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Am I the only person who still thinks the plural of forum is fora?
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Am I the only person who still thinks the plural of forum is fora?
Yes. Go and write "this data" on the blackboard fifty times.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Am I the only person who still thinks the plural of forum is fora?
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Yes, the subtext is, "Come and see me in my office so I can have a word about your behaviour in private."
"The president’s sons are backing a new drone company that is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon. Powerus, a drone roll-up company in West Palm Beach, is merging with a publicly traded GOLF-COURSE HOLDING COMPANY backed by the Trumps." https://x.com/Timodc/status/2050205743450595419
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Am I the only person who still thinks the plural of forum is fora?
When you're speaking Latin, sure.
How Plebeian. A Patricians should be speaking in Greek, of course.
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I remember him here back in 2005. Only the name changes.
Which of the several million personalities are you referring to?
Almost his real name.
Getting close to doxing here, which I'm sure you aren't a fan of. If he wants to post anonymously, fair enough.
How is that doxxing?
In of itself it is not, but it's going quite quickly in that direction. How would you feel if someone was discussing your personal details when you hadn't offered it yourself?
I think every poster has a "real life" name, although I could be wrong. Back in the day most of is used a close derivation of our actual name, so I could be referring to dozens of posters. Have you correctly guessed the poster's real name on information I have provided. No.
It works the other way too.
I just sent a complaint to the Council from *this* email account rather than my real one ! And for such they need to link me to the residential address. Somebody has tried to double their back garden by fencing in part of our local Country Park; it's a bit cheeky.
From your second link: The Hebrew University's Faculty of Comparative Religion also took to social media to express its shock at the "heinous and utterly dangerous hate crime," which it said was "part of a deeply disturbing rise in Christianophobia that is becoming alarmingly prevalent in the Old City of Jerusalem and in many other places across Israel."
Christianophobia is a word I've not seen before. What happened to live and let live?
Persecution of Christians is not especially uncommon. There is a reflexive reaction from more progressive types about it, since it became a cause with the American Right. More Culture War nonsense.
Is that really at a level of persecution?
It very much depends on your definition of "persecution", and on your definition of "Christian". It is a spectrum, and needs thought.
There's a fair bit of distortion of persecution reports to meet political agendas, and there is also a level at which "persecution" blends into "discrimination".
What would you call the following?
Criminal punishment for conversion from Islam, or practicing Christianity at home? Arson attacks on Orthodox churches in Egypt? Russian imprisonment of Jehovah's witnesses? Hegseth applying his particular 'Christian' values to Christians in the armed forces who do not meet his criteria eg he sacked his Chief of Chaplains, and expelled some self-identified Christians as part of his wider purges. Campaigns by secularists in the UK that the right of Christians (or others) in the NHS to refuse to take part in abortion procedures be abolished? Same sex marriage not being fully equal in the Church of England? Being prevented from protesting outside an abortion clinic?
Persecution in a faith based context is being prevented from freely worshipping and attacks on places of worship, everything else above is merely a different view on a social issue
I agree, and it needs much discernment as there are grey boundaries.
One recent example was the protests in the church services in Minneapolis (I think) where the pastor was a senior staff member of ICE.
Another older one was the naked "Lady Godiva" protest by a woman in Coventry Cathedral when there was a service for the centenary of the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11HLOputkM
Peter Tatchell did something similar iirc wrt Gay Rights, interrupting a service.
But a large crowd outside may intimidate.
But this thread started with a story I posted about events in Israel, which has now been picked up by the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy02gnzlvkko That article reports, "The assault comes amid a recent rise in harassment of Christian clergy and pilgrims by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem's Old City." There was also the recent case of an Israeli soldier desecrating a crucifix in Lebanon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew790ppn8jo I think these cases don't have grey boundaries. They are straightforward hate crimes.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
The council sees business rates paid The government sees taxes paid on every penny - employment taxes, profits, VAT. The lot - unless the people running it are very very stupid. The owners get washed money
What's the problem?
You don't think these businesses go insolvent owing HMRC? PPE medpro (Mone and Barrowman) owed HMRC £39m, I think your local money laundering operation will have realised they can go insolvent owing HMRC 5 figures without much fuss.
The smarter ones realise, I think, that paying tax is kicking money up to a higher gang boss. My local barber shop raised the pay for employees, re-did the inside, even tidied up the outside of the shop. Though they only ever have two people working there, despite having 6 chairs. The previous owner would have a minimum of 4 people working all the time.
If the level of money laundering is as many think it is, there is an enormous incentive for the authorities to look away.
Is it still cash laundering, or are cards somehow involved now?
The started taking cards after the new chap took over - part of the modernisation.
Most Turkish barbers in my experience (a) seem glad to have me as a customer and are anxious to have me back, and (b) are good at cutting hair, which as I know to my cost is a skilled operation.
Which suggests to me most such barbers see cutting hair as their main business, with money laundering at most a sideline.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
The council sees business rates paid The government sees taxes paid on every penny - employment taxes, profits, VAT. The lot - unless the people running it are very very stupid. The owners get washed money
What's the problem?
You don't think these businesses go insolvent owing HMRC? PPE medpro (Mone and Barrowman) owed HMRC £39m, I think your local money laundering operation will have realised they can go insolvent owing HMRC 5 figures without much fuss.
The smarter ones realise, I think, that paying tax is kicking money up to a higher gang boss. My local barber shop raised the pay for employees, re-did the inside, even tidied up the outside of the shop. Though they only ever have two people working there, despite having 6 chairs. The previous owner would have a minimum of 4 people working all the time.
If the level of money laundering is as many think it is, there is an enormous incentive for the authorities to look away.
Is it still cash laundering, or are cards somehow involved now?
The started taking cards after the new chap took over - part of the modernisation.
Most Turkish barbers in my experience (a) seem glad to have me as a customer and are anxious to have me back, and (b) are good at cutting hair, which as I know to my cost is a skilled operation.
Which suggests to me most such barbers see cutting hair as their main business, with money laundering at most a sideline.
I don't think it is most Turkish barbers - but this one is not doing enough business to keep going. While spending like it's going out of style.
Either someone is trying to burn a fortune or....
EDIT: The competent one who works there is actually Polish.
On the Obama administration deportation numbers: As I understand it, the Obama administration changed the definition of deportations to include people who were turned away at the border. In the past, these had been called "returns". Here's an immigration discussion, including that point. https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/1lwpww4/how_exactly_was_obama_able_to_deport_the_most/ So his numbers are not directly comparable to George W. Bush's numbers.
For the record: (1) Some of the current deportation tactics by the Loser's administration are despicable. (2) The only immigration reform I am sure of is ending the diversity lottery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
Am I the only person who still thinks the plural of forum is fora?
Yes. Go and write "this data" on the blackboard fifty times.
If I was going to pick one specific item out, I would indeed call it a datum. Or maybe a piece/item of data.
From your second link: The Hebrew University's Faculty of Comparative Religion also took to social media to express its shock at the "heinous and utterly dangerous hate crime," which it said was "part of a deeply disturbing rise in Christianophobia that is becoming alarmingly prevalent in the Old City of Jerusalem and in many other places across Israel."
Christianophobia is a word I've not seen before. What happened to live and let live?
Persecution of Christians is not especially uncommon. There is a reflexive reaction from more progressive types about it, since it became a cause with the American Right. More Culture War nonsense.
Is that really at a level of persecution?
It very much depends on your definition of "persecution", and on your definition of "Christian". It is a spectrum, and needs thought.
There's a fair bit of distortion of persecution reports to meet political agendas, and there is also a level at which "persecution" blends into "discrimination".
What would you call the following?
Criminal punishment for conversion from Islam, or practicing Christianity at home? Arson attacks on Orthodox churches in Egypt? Russian imprisonment of Jehovah's witnesses? Hegseth applying his particular 'Christian' values to Christians in the armed forces who do not meet his criteria eg he sacked his Chief of Chaplains, and expelled some self-identified Christians as part of his wider purges. Campaigns by secularists in the UK that the right of Christians (or others) in the NHS to refuse to take part in abortion procedures be abolished? Same sex marriage not being fully equal in the Church of England? Being prevented from protesting outside an abortion clinic?
Persecution in a faith based context is being prevented from freely worshipping and attacks on places of worship, everything else above is merely a different view on a social issue
I agree, and it needs much discernment as there are grey boundaries.
One recent example was the protests in the church services in Minneapolis (I think) where the pastor was a senior staff member of ICE.
Another older one was the naked "Lady Godiva" protest by a woman in Coventry Cathedral when there was a service for the centenary of the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11HLOputkM
Peter Tatchell did something similar iirc wrt Gay Rights, interrupting a service.
But a large crowd outside may intimidate.
But this thread started with a story I posted about events in Israel, which has now been picked up by the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy02gnzlvkko That article reports, "The assault comes amid a recent rise in harassment of Christian clergy and pilgrims by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem's Old City." There was also the recent case of an Israeli soldier desecrating a crucifix in Lebanon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew790ppn8jo I think these cases don't have grey boundaries. They are straightforward hate crimes.
I tend to agree - but it is still a spectrum with differential reporting or sometimes exaggeration according to what is the intention of the reporting body or individual.
Another one I tracked a long time ago was harassment of Roman Catholics in East Timor (gained independence in 2002) by Suharto's people going into Roman Catholic churches to pretend to take communion, then spit the wine and wafer onto the floor.
A case of questionable reporting is I think the way Trump focuses on things according to his agenda, such as 18,000 churches in Nigeria, and the "white South Africans" which is a total fabrication. Others do the same - I'm sure I do to a degree.
Some support for Starmer from Sir John Major 'Britain must not keep changing prime ministers, Sir John Major has warned in a broadside at those who treat politics as a "game show" while leaving big problems to the next generation.
The former Conservative prime minister accused today's focus-group obsessed politicians of thinking their job was to "provide fodder for the media and project your own career" while delaying action on complex issues like healthcare, pensions and climate change.'
He also regrets the growth in the professional political clash 'ir John also criticised the growing number of professional politicians in all parties.
He said Labour MPs used to be "people without money, without privilege, working class people who really knew their constituents" but now "they're much younger, much better educated, and in my judgement, much less close to their constituents than their predecessors were".
"And you can see on the Conservative side, where are the businessmen? Where are the soldiers?
"Where are the people who would have been a staple part of the party in the 1950s, 60s and 70s? They're very sparse now on the Conservative benches."
Sir John, the last prime minister not to go to university, was inspired to enter politics after a chance meeting at the age of 13 with his local MP, Marcus Lipton, who arranged a visit to the Commons.
He hopes others will still be willing to follow.
"Well, I would say to young people, we need you in politics. If all the talent in this country concentrates on how can I earn more money, how can I avoid public service like the plague because I don't like the idea of it, then we are in deep doodah."
There are reasons why people avoid politics either as a first or subsequent career.
Note that Major has a significant dissonance; he is both calling for young people to enter politics and for the back benches to be full of people with previous (presumably successful) occupations - 'working class' Labour - white van man and industrial workers - and Tory soldiers and businesspeople.
Three reasons to avoid parliamentary politics:
1) MPs are disregarded by their own leadership and have almost no interesting powers. 2) Political discourse is mostly a tiring and tiresome dishonest exercise in dead words. 3) Social media and the aggressive minority of loonies and single issue fanatics, with the occasional murderer set loose on you.
Finally, its insecurity may have been fun once upon a time, but the sort of stability you need now to occupy and retain even a modest place on the housing ladder makes politics a tough ask for the young and not rich.
if you are idealistic what is the point of sitting for years on the back benches watching government kick everything into the future?
Hmm. I was an MP for 13 years and had various interesting Select Committee jobs, and was PPS to Malcolm Wicks, who was careful to involve me in everything. Despite that I struggle to think of specific laws or practices that changed as a result of my efforts. On the other hand, it's easy to think of elections in which I was one of a few hundred people affecting the result, holding the seat against expectations. I never encountered any loonies or even got sworn at - the most was a firm "not interested". Canvassing in all subsequent elections has produced the same pattern, and I'm not convinced that mindless aggression to a stranger on your doorstep is that common. I never consciously lied, though I certainly concentrated on themes which I thought productive. I was able to help lots of individuals with their problems.
In the same way, I've never tried to disguise my identity here, and I can't remember anyone being rude (except for one poster who is rude to everyone). One or two people are scornful, but that's normal democracy.
Ultimately the test is whether you think that being part of a smallish group affecting things is worthwhile, even if you don't star yourself. Given the interest in everyone here in taking part in elections at all, where the probability of making a difference is small, I assume most of us would agree it's worthwhile. Would we suffer seriously under an autocracy if we kept our heads down? Probably not, but it'd be a rubbish way to help run society around us.
So I do think it's worth getting involved, and encourage everyone to do so. A life spent entirely indifferent to ytour surroundings is missing something important.
I too have enjoyed my political roles, and when younger considered the parliamentary route, which back then wasn't that practicable given my party and personal circumstances. But the more I saw an MPs job from the inside, the less I fancied it anyway. The most extraordinary thing is the dichotomy between the local presence - in your own patch you're considered someone important, almost a celebrity, even though getting anything done locally inevitably involves the council or other agencies doing it, since the MP has no actual power or authority other than the soft powers of influencing and shaming - whereas in parliament, where people would think you do have power - the seemingly responsible position of MP is, in all the parties and particularly the major ones - reduced to a position of mostly being a micro-managed impotent grunt, which no relatively senior person in the corporate world would tolerate. You're told where to be, how to vote, what to say and not say, and fed patsy questions to ask, and if you step significantly out of line by thinking for yourself, you're thrown into the wilderness and most likely your political future is over. And are dealing, with your team, with a vast pile of routine correspondence over almost all of which you have no influence and are simply a letterbox passing your constituent's representation to an official and the official's response back to the constituent. Yes, there are occasional opportunities to make a difference at a key committee or via private member legislation, but those come along only rarely such that even very long serving MPs struggle to point to very much where they've managed to make a difference. The most satisfying thing is probably resolving some resident's intractable problem tangling with officialdom, but then you get plenty of opportunity to do that as a councillor.
I'm not sure that's not too cynical. First, on the local scene - constituents were often up a blind alley and unsure who to go to, or were being stonewalled by landlords or local civil servants. MPs interevening get attention, and if you persist then it becomes less trouble to solve the problem than put up with your pestering. Councillors don't have the same effect - I've tried both roles. I've talked with ex-civil servants who admitted that MP intervention regularly made a difference.
On the national scene - which I concede is what it's mostly supposed to be about - you're told how to vote, but absolutely not where to go or what to say or not say, and although you can ask for a patsy question most MPs don't. The snag is more subtle - you can say the unsayable, attend events which are legal but controversial, and have little effect. You basically have a choice which isn't obvious from the start - stay fairly close to the party line or think for yourself but accept you won't have a Ministerial career. If you stick fairly close to the party line you are still one of a very small number of people deciding the future direction of the country. Only if you think it must be you is that an irrelevance.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
So... what is the government doing about it? They piss about passing stupid laws about things that don't need to be illegal, yet will not sit down with the police and Treasury sols to devise a package to close down obvious illegality.
Deporting any immigrant who commits an offence with a tariff over 6 months would be a good start. I'd be more generous towards people granted asylum, but if you come here and commit rape for example, you should be deemed to have withdrawn your request for asylum. It doesn't matter if you are sent home and killed, it is perfectly possible to choose not to commit crimes and you have effectively chosen that yourself.
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
Returns of FNOs [foreign national offenders] have been increasing since 2021, with the year ending June 2025 now similar to levels seen in the year ending June 2019.
It goes on:
Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented the most common nationality for FNO returns in each of the last 4 years. The UK-Albania Joint Communique signed in December 2022 strengthened data sharing between the UK and Albania and has supported the removal of Albanian national offenders.
Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian and Malaysian nationals additionally make up the top 5 most common nationalities of foreign offenders returned from the UK in the year ending June 2025 (See Figure 3).
There's a surprising statistic that there were more deportations under Obama than now under Trump (adjusting for time in office, obv). The Obama administration focused on deporting foreign offenders in an efficient manner. The Trump administration focuses on performative violence, ICE driving around and arresting brown people. Labour are, perhaps, following an Obama approach, while Reform UK talk of wanting a British ICE. Will Labour get any credit for steady increases in deportation of foreign offenders?
No. Partly their own fault as they don't really tell anyone. Partly media bias. Mostly stereotypes of Labour = weak on immigration, The Right = strong on immigration that won't go away anytime soon even if not backed by any reality either way around.
It's also a fact that small boat arrivals were zero until we left the EU, because until that point UK had the right under EU law to deport arrivals straight back to France, and because you were almost bound to be discovered en route it wasn't a viable illegal option. Sneaking in undetected in a lorry was the main option until then.
From your second link: The Hebrew University's Faculty of Comparative Religion also took to social media to express its shock at the "heinous and utterly dangerous hate crime," which it said was "part of a deeply disturbing rise in Christianophobia that is becoming alarmingly prevalent in the Old City of Jerusalem and in many other places across Israel."
Christianophobia is a word I've not seen before. What happened to live and let live?
Persecution of Christians is not especially uncommon. There is a reflexive reaction from more progressive types about it, since it became a cause with the American Right. More Culture War nonsense.
Is that really at a level of persecution?
It very much depends on your definition of "persecution", and on your definition of "Christian". It is a spectrum, and needs thought.
There's a fair bit of distortion of persecution reports to meet political agendas, and there is also a level at which "persecution" blends into "discrimination".
What would you call the following?
Criminal punishment for conversion from Islam, or practicing Christianity at home? Arson attacks on Orthodox churches in Egypt? Russian imprisonment of Jehovah's witnesses? Hegseth applying his particular 'Christian' values to Christians in the armed forces who do not meet his criteria eg he sacked his Chief of Chaplains, and expelled some self-identified Christians as part of his wider purges. Campaigns by secularists in the UK that the right of Christians (or others) in the NHS to refuse to take part in abortion procedures be abolished? Same sex marriage not being fully equal in the Church of England? Being prevented from protesting outside an abortion clinic?
Persecution in a faith based context is being prevented from freely worshipping and attacks on places of worship, everything else above is merely a different view on a social issue
I agree, and it needs much discernment as there are grey boundaries.
One recent example was the protests in the church services in Minneapolis (I think) where the pastor was a senior staff member of ICE.
Another older one was the naked "Lady Godiva" protest by a woman in Coventry Cathedral when there was a service for the centenary of the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11HLOputkM
Peter Tatchell did something similar iirc wrt Gay Rights, interrupting a service.
But a large crowd outside may intimidate.
But this thread started with a story I posted about events in Israel, which has now been picked up by the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy02gnzlvkko That article reports, "The assault comes amid a recent rise in harassment of Christian clergy and pilgrims by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem's Old City." There was also the recent case of an Israeli soldier desecrating a crucifix in Lebanon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew790ppn8jo I think these cases don't have grey boundaries. They are straightforward hate crimes.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
From a lefty perspective: why vote Labour when you can help a green win?
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
From a lefty perspective: why vote Labour when you can help a green win?
What they are doing is appealing for tactical votes from the other parties, but in a way that actually encourages LD and Con supporters to vote Labour.
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
Their calculation is that many Labour inclined voters will switch to Green in circumstances where Reform and the Conservatives are not seriously in the running. And that Reform and Conservative voters will not switch to Starmer's Labour just to keep the Greens out.
And in that I think that, as things stand, they're still correct, despite Polanski putting his foot in it.
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
I had a similar Green leaflet with dodgy reference to “latest poll”, with no details where the numbers come from, but presumably that big MRP, which gives you a projection but would have zero or close to zero responses from any specific ward.
Is it a mistake to have raised the terror threat on the back of the Golders Green attack, given it was a random mental patient with a history of wild knife attacks on the loose, rather than a politically motivated terrorist?
How isn't it a politically motivated terrorist? He seems to have travelled to Golders Green deliberately to stab Jews. (He has also been charged with another offence in Southwark earlier the same day, he was some way away).
Schizophrenics with a history of wild knife attacks are likely to be easier to recruit to your cause.
It seems, from Owen Jones on X, that he also knifed a Muslim, and has been charged with three counts of attempted murder
This earlier attack seems to have been completely buried in all the news reporting I've heard.
As he is (presumably) a Muslim, then the first attack may just have been someone he knows. It doesn't mean the second attack wasn't terrorist-related. Maybe we should wait for the trial to avoid jumping to conclusions
Anecdote alert. Haircut time, lady barber ranting about a local case where a carwash was turned over by police and half a dozen people found who shouldn't be working there. Three straightforward illegals and I think three asylum seekers not supposed to be working. The owner will get a hefty fine, but he's a Turkish Kurd, fairly well known in the area, in fact he occasionally drinks in my local. As she pointed out, why won't he be deported? If he lives here but chooses to break our laws, that seems reasonable.
She was all for shooting (sic) illegal immigrants/workers which seems a bit extreme and has in fact heard of Rupert Lowe which surprised me. She's a bit right wing and prone to conspiracy theories but I think the sticking point, as a businesswoman is these businesses operate paying no tax and ignore regulatory requirements.
Why aren't the police and immigration more heavy-handed? They should seek to close these places down. If you find illegal immigrants working at a business you should raid it on a random day every week. Or there should be a legal mechanism to close it down.
If she's a representative sample, there's a lot of rage out there, which is brought out by seeing obvious illegal activity on the high street (minimarts, vape shops, barbers, car washes) which are obvious to us citizens but the authorities do f all about.
The game played is that the premises, equipment etc is owned by a one company. Which then hires out to another company. When the later outfit is caught, goes bankrupt. Another company takes over the lease.....
"Just collects me rent, don't knows nuffink about no crimes, Orificer."
Most if not all deal in cash only which is a big clue.
My barber pointed out you don't actually need customers to launder cash, you just put the dirty money through and hey presto it has just become the proceeds of selling soft drinks, or vape fluids, or whatever
The council sees business rates paid The government sees taxes paid on every penny - employment taxes, profits, VAT. The lot - unless the people running it are very very stupid. The owners get washed money
What's the problem?
You don't think these businesses go insolvent owing HMRC? PPE medpro (Mone and Barrowman) owed HMRC £39m, I think your local money laundering operation will have realised they can go insolvent owing HMRC 5 figures without much fuss.
The smarter ones realise, I think, that paying tax is kicking money up to a higher gang boss. My local barber shop raised the pay for employees, re-did the inside, even tidied up the outside of the shop. Though they only ever have two people working there, despite having 6 chairs. The previous owner would have a minimum of 4 people working all the time.
If the level of money laundering is as many think it is, there is an enormous incentive for the authorities to look away.
Is it still cash laundering, or are cards somehow involved now?
The started taking cards after the new chap took over - part of the modernisation.
Most Turkish barbers in my experience (a) seem glad to have me as a customer and are anxious to have me back, and (b) are good at cutting hair, which as I know to my cost is a skilled operation.
Which suggests to me most such barbers see cutting hair as their main business, with money laundering at most a sideline.
One of our local barbers (maybe Turkish) employs a barber who always wears a flat cap. Seems odd for a hairdresser.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Its what he believes though. He is showing you who he is. The hard left will always be anti police because they see them as a tool of the right.
It is clearly a scurrilous remark that Polanski retweeted. After all there has never been evidence of excessive force or racism by serving Met officers.
More like a nutter hoping for a one-way ticket to paradise. He greeted the police before trying to jump up a tall fence from which said coppers immediately retrieved him. He had his martyrdom note in his pocket and presumably hoped to get shot rather than simply pulled down.
Just picked up a leaflet from the Greens. It says the latest polling projection for East Greenwich has Greens first and Labour second. 'Reform, Lib Dems and Conservatives are far behind and cannot win here', it concludes.
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
I had a similar Green leaflet with dodgy reference to “latest poll”, with no details where the numbers come from, but presumably that big MRP, which gives you a projection but would have zero or close to zero responses from any specific ward.
s I have said before: first rule of Dodgy Bar Chart club - always put yourself second, never first
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Its what he believes though. He is showing you who he is. The hard left will always be anti police because they see them as a tool of the right.
It is clearly a scurrilous remark that Polanski retweeted. After all there has never been evidence of excessive force or racism by serving Met officers.
I went to see Frankie Boyle previewing new material, there was a performative walkout when he did the line on the increased sentencing for violence against an emergency services worker "but what if they're in the act of murdering or raping someone?"
"What the f**k's up with them?" "They're from the Met..."
🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer says Zack Polanski's repost criticising the officers who arrested the terror suspect is "disgraceful"
"If I was there, I’d be thinking... he’s going to blow me up and everybody around here. In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind is, we need to do whatever we can to disable this guy… Now, when I then see Zack Polanski come out and retweet or support a criticism of that, I think it’s disgraceful… He’s not fit to lead any political party"
I have found the single worst Woke Left take on the Golders Green stabbings. Prepare yourself
Here it is
“That guy’s going to get slammed with terrorism charges and spend the rest of his life in prison, all because he was unlucky enough to be off his meds in a Jewish neighborhood during an artificially manufactured moral panic about antisemitism”
I saw one yesterday saying that the police had committed a war crime.
ah bless, we can see the both of you rotting your brains in real-time
Leon and Glenn are both impressive adverts for banning access to social media for younger people and for anyone whose mental capacity hasn’t expanded since those teenage years. Too many people have burrowed their way down rabbit holes since, to regard social media as an unalloyed positive. It’s a shame Leon’s PB account has regenerated so many times, since comparing his PB output now with that of years back would be akin to comparing the Parliamentary debates of today with those from the last century.
I dunno. I seem to be doing OK for someone with diminished cognitive capacity
You’re alone in a sad house in Ventnor. I’m lying in a hammock on the balcony in my free five star safari lodge in Rwanda, watching this hippo as he surfaces in the lake
Imagine what I could achieve if my brain wasn’t addled. I’d probably be intergalactic Pope, or something
Like I said, years back, you had relevant insight to offer. Now you’re just lying drunk in some hammock watching a hippo. If only your account name hadn’t changed so often, PB’ers would be one click away from being able to map your cognitive decline.
Ventnor. lol
Lol indeed. What would I want, living in such a unique, magical place, sitting out on my balcony looking out over blue sky and glittering sea, with the beach 100 metres away and open countryside within a short walk, tropical plants and wall lizards in my garden, when I could be living in a Camden bedsit surrounded by people I loathe so much that it drives me to rabidly posting all day on social media?
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
So do I - but I don't think he was wrong here.
Reposting what was essentially an attack on a couple of police for doing their job in responding to a brutal attack was completely out of order.
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
I would imagine Rowley has more urgent matters to attend to than meet to discuss the matter with Polanski.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
Rowley was completely out of order sticking an oar into politics in this way - publicly, personally, sticking it all over social media. Imagine the outrage on here if he did the same to Farage.
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
I've found Rowley desperately, desperately unimpressive on all manner of things. He needs to be dumped and (Sorry Manchester) Sir Stephen Watson given the most important job in British policing immediately.
Its what he believes though. He is showing you who he is. The hard left will always be anti police because they see them as a tool of the right.
It is clearly a scurrilous remark that Polanski retweeted. After all there has never been evidence of excessive force or racism by serving Met officers.
I thought doing stupid shit without thinking about context or consequences was the kind of thing we don't want the Met to do.
Comments
More people are being deported under this government than the last one.
It's a two seat ward as far as I can see and the Malvern Indie is the other councillor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight_East
Albania 1,576
Brazil 459
India 301
Pakistan 66
Colombia 13
Turkey 20
Iraq 42
China 89
Uzbekistan 9
Vietnam 89
Other 768
BREAKING: Failed asylum seeker found guilty of trying to break into London's Israeli embassy armed with two knives
https://x.com/skynews/status/2050181888493359475?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
https://t.me/noel_reports/45801
I believe the SU-57 is Russia's most modern military aircraft, supposedly utilising stealth technology to have a low radar profile.
I didn't mention any names. And some moron gave you a like for it too!
When Labour is desperately in need of a complete reset, the best these out of touch numpties can come up with is the idea of shuffling the leadership across from the current PM to the Chief Secretary to the PM, Starmer's right hand man at No 10.
Other more credible reports today say it's come down to being a contest between Rayner and Streeting.
"We can’t wait for Burnham, Labour MPs say as race to replace Starmer comes down to Rayner vs Streeting"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-next-prime-minister-angela-rayner-wes-streeting-andy-burnham-b2968776.html
This ‘automatic deportation’ law applies to non-British, non-Irish nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK, with certain exceptions. There is also ministerial discretion to deport foreign nationals for lesser offences if it is considered “conducive to the public good”.
4000 were so deported in 2023, but there has been a problem with many liable for deportation not being deported. Deportations generally have gone up since Labour came to power, although I've not seen a breakdown of figures particularly around the deportation of foreign offenders.
As with many things, it's not the headline policy that's the issue. We have a headline policy. It's the operation of that policy, which often comes down to funding. The Tories systematically cut the money for deportations, while going on about them. Labour are improving that situation. They could, I'm sure, do more, although at some point it comes down to more spending.
More broadly, immigrants generally commit the same number or fewer crimes than locals. If you want less crime, targetting immigrants isn't generally an efficient strategy. Better funding generally for the police and for crime prevention would be a good start. A lot of the crimes discussed above are stuff that local councils are meant to act on, but local councils have been gutted by austerity and there's little enforcement.
We also have to prioritise in terms of what criminal activity we want to focus efforts on. A carwash employing people without a right to work should face enforcement activity, but is that a priority? Drug dealing, stabbings, financial scams... different people are going to come up with different lists.
...
“Lower refining volumes also limit Russia’s ability to increase oil production, which has remained well below its OPEC+ quota for months.”
https://english.nv.ua/business/russia-s-oil-processing-falls-to-17-year-low-after-ukrainian-refinery-attacks-50604609.html
Hopefully this situation will monitonically deteriorate for Russia from here.
At least I get to do some real politics occassionally. Just had a 20 minute argument (couldn't quite do the full half hour) with the Newham Independents (NIP) who are canvassing in my Ward - late in the day but perhaps a sign of confidence (or over-confidence).
A very earnest lady telling me it's all about "the residents" while I was trying to explain to her what an uncosted pledge meant. The NIP are going to win (I suspect) by the old-fashioned route of promising the sun, the moon and the stars.
Among their gems is a commitment to freeze council tax for four years starting from next April. Now, that's achievable if you are prepared to cut services and streamline business processes. I asked her what services the NIP was going to cut - needless to say, I got a diatribe about how Labour have been lying and how they've got lots of money.
The NIP want to abolish the parking permit cost and the cost of bulky waste collection (Labour has committed to that as well). The NIP are also pledged to re-instating the Council run Fireworks Display at Wanstead Flats (which the current Labour administration scrapped after Covid on the basis of cost along with the summer open air concert in Central Park).
On top of that, every child is going to get a football, a cricket set, a table tennis set AND a badminton set paid for by the Council but again the activist had no clue as to how all this was to be funded except to say "Mr Mirza has a plan" which I don't find very reassuring.
Now, you might think the other parties might be more sensible but you'd be wrong - the Conservative Mayoral hopeful wants to re-open all the front desks at operational Police stations - fine, except all the stations were sold by Boris Johnson when Mayor. She also wants Newham to sell their offices for £120 million which is a drop in the ocean and can only be done once.
I'm now at the point of considering voting Labour tactically to stop the NIP.
Lammy said in Parliament, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-12-16/debates/02336236-D8EE-4EB1-BC90-AA7917B910C5/ForeignNationalOffendersDeportation , in Dec 2025, "We said that we are determined to remove foreign national offenders from our prisons sooner, and we have. I am pleased to say that the number of foreign criminals removed from the country early has rocketed by 75% under this Labour Government".
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2025/how-many-people-are-returned-from-the-uk#s-5 goes back further. It notes:
Returns of FNOs [foreign national offenders] have been increasing since 2021, with the year ending June 2025 now similar to levels seen in the year ending June 2019.
It goes on:
Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented the most common nationality for FNO returns in each of the last 4 years. The UK-Albania Joint Communique signed in December 2022 strengthened data sharing between the UK and Albania and has supported the removal of Albanian national offenders.
Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian and Malaysian nationals additionally make up the top 5 most common nationalities of foreign offenders returned from the UK in the year ending June 2025 (See Figure 3).
There's a surprising statistic that there were more deportations under Obama than now under Trump (adjusting for time in office, obv). The Obama administration focused on deporting foreign offenders in an efficient manner. The Trump administration focuses on performative violence, ICE driving around and arresting brown people. Labour are, perhaps, following an Obama approach, while Reform UK talk of wanting a British ICE. Will Labour get any credit for steady increases in deportation of foreign offenders?
Gro Harlem Brundtland
IF, as @RochdalePioneers and others suggest, fuel prices drive inflation higher, trying to hold down Council Tax without swingeing cuts to services looks inconceivable. Mirza will of course blame this and central Government when he has to break his campaign pledge and raise the Council Tax.
The echo of George HW Bush resonates through the streets of East Ham this fine Friday afternoon.....
Otherwise I fear I’ll have to buy a new one. Up til now I’ve always bought Hilfiger gilets but maybe it’s time to experiment. I like the light puffer packable ones. Any recommendations?
And definitely a liberal.
The "employment" fronts are clearly facilitating organised crime though, so maybe should be more of a priority than the nature of the crimes prosecuted suggests. If we keep deporting people running the vape shops, the king pins will find they can't rent them to anyone.
And the MAGA governor has declared a state of emergency to suspend the election, so they Republicans can force through a last minute gerrymander (a thing which Kavanaugh when concurring in the VRA decision denied would happen).
https://x.com/marceelias/status/2049978943030079813
According to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, spending on trading standards has been cut by 50% over the past decade and staffing levels have fallen by 30%-50%.
... says https://www.localgov.co.uk/Trading-standards-cuts-expose-millions-to-danger-/61876
Greens leader Zack Polanski responds to critcisms from Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley:
"‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."
One recent example was the protests in the church services in Minneapolis (I think) where the pastor was a senior staff member of ICE.
Another older one was the naked "Lady Godiva" protest by a woman in Coventry Cathedral when there was a service for the centenary of the car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11HLOputkM
Peter Tatchell did something similar iirc wrt Gay Rights, interrupting a service.
But a large crowd outside may intimidate. Also but Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the Gospels.
A simple "I am sorry; I was wrong" is what was needed. Very few politicians are capable of uttering that simple phrase.
https://x.com/Timodc/status/2050205743450595419
That seems ... innovative.
I just sent a complaint to the Council from *this* email account rather than my real one ! And for such they need to link me to the residential address. Somebody has tried to double their back garden by fencing in part of our local Country Park; it's a bit cheeky.
So I had to quickly reverse-ferret.
Which suggests to me most such barbers see cutting hair as their main business, with money laundering at most a sideline.
Either someone is trying to burn a fortune or....
EDIT: The competent one who works there is actually Polish.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/1lwpww4/how_exactly_was_obama_able_to_deport_the_most/
So his numbers are not directly comparable to George W. Bush's numbers.
For the record: (1) Some of the current deportation tactics by the Loser's administration are despicable.
(2) The only immigration reform I am sure of is ending the diversity lottery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa
Either make a broad statement addressing everyone, or leave it to the Home Secretary to pile in on a specific opposition politician. A disgraceful episode from an unelected senior public servant.
(And to be clear, Polanski got it completely wrong here and had seriously damaged the Greens with this)
Another one I tracked a long time ago was harassment of Roman Catholics in East Timor (gained independence in 2002) by Suharto's people going into Roman Catholic churches to pretend to take communion, then spit the wine and wafer onto the floor.
A case of questionable reporting is I think the way Trump focuses on things according to his agenda, such as 18,000 churches in Nigeria, and the "white South Africans" which is a total fabrication. Others do the same - I'm sure I do to a degree.
On the national scene - which I concede is what it's mostly supposed to be about - you're told how to vote, but absolutely not where to go or what to say or not say, and although you can ask for a patsy question most MPs don't. The snag is more subtle - you can say the unsayable, attend events which are legal but controversial, and have little effect. You basically have a choice which isn't obvious from the start - stay fairly close to the party line or think for yourself but accept you won't have a Ministerial career. If you stick fairly close to the party line you are still one of a very small number of people deciding the future direction of the country. Only if you think it must be you is that an irrelevance.
Thanks, Farage, Johnson et al.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/21/israeli-soldiers-using-sexual-assault-to-force-palestinians-out-of-west-bank-report-says
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/21/not-stay-silent-palestinian-prisoner-sexual-abuse-israeli-jail
Kevin Schofield
@KevinASchofield
This has been a massive political misstep by Zack Polanski
https://x.com/KevinASchofield/status/2050230212164559132
Am I right in my interpretation that what they are essentially saying is if you want to beat the Greens you have to vote Labour?
I think they may have a thing to two to learn from the Lib Dems about how to present this kind of information ...
And in that I think that, as things stand, they're still correct, despite Polanski putting his foot in it.
She could still mess it up though with a bad campaign and her tax affairs are another risk.
"What the f**k's up with them?"
"They're from the Met..."
🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer says Zack Polanski's repost criticising the officers who arrested the terror suspect is "disgraceful"
"If I was there, I’d be thinking... he’s going to blow me up and everybody around here. In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind is, we need to do whatever we can to disable this guy… Now, when I then see Zack Polanski come out and retweet or support a criticism of that, I think it’s disgraceful… He’s not fit to lead any political party"
Reposting what was essentially an attack on a couple of police for doing their job in responding to a brutal attack was completely out of order.
He’s an incredibly annoying smart arse, and Southam Observer’s favourite Labour politician
So why should we give a pass to Polanski?