Still think a Labour recovery under Burnham or Streeting is very likely.
If Labour are second tomorrow on seats and NEV GB wide and come second on the Holyrood constituency vote as MiC now forecasts and helps deprive the SNP of a majority at Holyrood then SKS is staying put anyway
He's not HYUFD. The game is over.
Nope, if Labour is second tomorrow and beat the Tories, Greens and LDs No 10 will spin that as a triumph far exceeding expectations even if Reform win as expected and Starmer survives another year. Especially given Labour MPs are hopeless at removing leaders normally
I respect you but your knowledge on Labour affairs is extremely poor when it comes to this kind of thing.
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
Clad in humble black shoes and the Buddhist order's ceremonial gray and brown robe, the 1.3-meter-tall robot stood in front of Buddhist monks and nuns as it pledged to commit itself to Buddhism in the ceremony held Wednesday, ahead of Buddha's Birthday later this month.
The robot folded its hands together and bowed to the monks officiating the ceremony, as one of the monks carefully hung a 108-bead rosary and attached a sticker instead of the original ritual where one has to slightly burn his arms near an incense stick.
Will you devote yourself to the holy Buddha?" one of the monks asked.
"Yes, I will devote myself," the robot replied in an audible voice.
"Will you devote yourself to the holy teaching?" the monk asked.
"Yes, I will devote myself," the robot answered.
The monk then laid out five precepts, or common vows, for a Buddhist to live by that were altered for the robot.
They included respecting life and not hurting it, not damaging other robots and objects, following humans and not talking back to them, not behaving or speaking in a deceptive manner, and saving energy and not overcharging...
Please tell me they’re not planning on having it write out all the possible names of God…?
Still think a Labour recovery under Burnham or Streeting is very likely.
If Labour are second tomorrow on seats and NEV GB wide and come second on the Holyrood constituency vote as MiC now forecasts and helps deprive the SNP of a majority at Holyrood then SKS is staying put anyway
He's not HYUFD. The game is over.
Nope, if Labour is second tomorrow and beat the Tories, Greens and LDs No 10 will spin that as a triumph far exceeding expectations even if Reform win as expected and Starmer survives another year. Especially given Labour MPs are hopeless at removing leaders normally
I respect you but your knowledge on Labour affairs is extremely poor when it comes to this kind of thing.
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
He is, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer can easily spin it as a choice between him and Farage going forward and Labour MPs will rally round that, especially given Labour will have still beaten the Tories and Greens
Reform UK are battling to win the East of England, a traditional Conservative heartland, in the upcoming local elections.
The Telegraph's Political Editor, @Tony_Diver was given access to a day on the campaign trail with Robert Jenrick, travelling across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
Can the former Conservative MP help turn one of the bluest areas in England teal?
What exactly is "raising kids in the British way"? I promise I am not being obtuse here but I didn't really understand what she meant. Are kids raised in the UK very different to kids raised in say Italy or Spain?
Raising kids the British way will be a bit difficult when 40% of live births were by mothers who were born outside the UK. Are they suggesting that prenatal classes should have cultural elements too. Or are they just being racist?
Still think a Labour recovery under Burnham or Streeting is very likely.
If Labour are second tomorrow on seats and NEV GB wide and come second on the Holyrood constituency vote as MiC now forecasts and helps deprive the SNP of a majority at Holyrood then SKS is staying put anyway
He's not HYUFD. The game is over.
Nope, if Labour is second tomorrow and beat the Tories, Greens and LDs No 10 will spin that as a triumph far exceeding expectations even if Reform win as expected and Starmer survives another year. Especially given Labour MPs are hopeless at removing leaders normally
I respect you but your knowledge on Labour affairs is extremely poor when it comes to this kind of thing.
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
He is, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer can easily spin it as a choice between him and Farage going forward and Labour MPs will rally round that, especially given Labour will have still beaten the Tories and Greens
Still think a Labour recovery under Burnham or Streeting is very likely.
If Labour are second tomorrow on seats and NEV GB wide and come second on the Holyrood constituency vote as MiC now forecasts and helps deprive the SNP of a majority at Holyrood then SKS is staying put anyway
He's not HYUFD. The game is over.
Nope, if Labour is second tomorrow and beat the Tories, Greens and LDs No 10 will spin that as a triumph far exceeding expectations even if Reform win as expected and Starmer survives another year. Especially given Labour MPs are hopeless at removing leaders normally
I respect you but your knowledge on Labour affairs is extremely poor when it comes to this kind of thing.
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
He is, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer can easily spin it as a choice between him and Farage going forward and Labour MPs will rally round that, especially given Labour will have still beaten the Tories and Greens
Nonsense I am afraid HYUFD.
Nope reality, Labour MPs couldn't even get rid of Corbyn when most of them nominated his opponent, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer is safe and secure for the next year until next year's locals at least
Still think a Labour recovery under Burnham or Streeting is very likely.
If Labour are second tomorrow on seats and NEV GB wide and come second on the Holyrood constituency vote as MiC now forecasts and helps deprive the SNP of a majority at Holyrood then SKS is staying put anyway
He's not HYUFD. The game is over.
Nope, if Labour is second tomorrow and beat the Tories, Greens and LDs No 10 will spin that as a triumph far exceeding expectations even if Reform win as expected and Starmer survives another year. Especially given Labour MPs are hopeless at removing leaders normally
I respect you but your knowledge on Labour affairs is extremely poor when it comes to this kind of thing.
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
He is, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer can easily spin it as a choice between him and Farage going forward and Labour MPs will rally round that, especially given Labour will have still beaten the Tories and Greens
Nonsense I am afraid HYUFD.
Nope reality, Labour MPs couldn't even get rid of Corbyn when most of them nominated his opponent, if Labour are second on Friday Starmer is safe and secure for the next year until next year's locals at least
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
You regard this as a piece of analysis do you?
It's merely a counter to the hackneyed chant of "you can't tax your way to growth".
Growth is complicated.
And a lot of things that were once tailwinds to growth -like falling birthrates and increased life expectancy- are now headwinds. And at the same time, we (as in the developed world) are no longer the only purchasers of raw materials; now we need to compete with China, India and a host of other rapidly developing nations. That means we're paying more for commodities at the same time that every worker is supporting more and more retirees.
If there were easy answers, then politicians would have already implemented them.
Doesn't stop them offering easy answers and the public believing them.
Also doesn’t mean there aren’t some relatively easy answers out there that could help at least marginally. It’s the total transformation narrative that’s the fairytale.
A few examples which the data tell us should work:
- sorting out the distorted marginal tax rates and thresholds that inhibit labour market participation - Tilting tax and monetary policy to encourage more consumer spending, business spending, investment in riskier but higher yielding assets and discourage saving in low yield assets - Liberalisation of planning rules for infrastructure - restructuring the energy market to allow regional pricing - Providing fully state run (rather than subsidised) early years childcare for working parents - Rejoining the single market - Cutting corporation tax to 15%
And so on. Aggregation of marginal gains
Yes. Not just a fairytale, the transformation narrative is damaging. The notion that if only we elect the right people they will make things loads better in short order is one of the main drivers of populism.
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
Ignoring all the rules on toilet flushing in apartment blocks.... Switzerland, Luxembourg, RoI have high GDP/capita because multinationals book their profits there, it's "empty calories". They're not big employers in those countries.
Reform UK are battling to win the East of England, a traditional Conservative heartland, in the upcoming local elections.
The Telegraph's Political Editor, @Tony_Diver was given access to a day on the campaign trail with Robert Jenrick, travelling across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
Can the former Conservative MP help turn one of the bluest areas in England teal?
What exactly is "raising kids in the British way"? I promise I am not being obtuse here but I didn't really understand what she meant. Are kids raised in the UK very different to kids raised in say Italy or Spain?
Even AI is taking the jobs of virulent Islamapobes and giving them to *checks notes* a devout Muslim living in Pakistan.
For me the interesting thing is the level of people getting their news from social media sites is alarmingly high (even here a lot of obviously flawed stuff gets posted). Yet, the incentives of the websites involved and the content producers are skewed about as far from the truth as possible.
To some extent I am sure these influencers are simply surfing the latest outrage rather than “inventing/creating” it. But ultimately they are amplifying it simply for revenue and that may solidify other people’s views or seep into the public discourse.
A horrible mess really - and one unleashed on us by the logic of the attention economy and the various owners of these websites - but worth bearing in mind when folks want to share stuff on one of those sites or claim that “people are outraged on x,y, or z website.”
"We can deduce it may take 8-10 years for the Tories to be fully rehabilitated this time around."
I think that's phony precision and too determinative by far.
The Conservatives between 1994 and 2007 had the overwhelming problem that they were running against a once in a century political genius. Though his shine had started to rub off a bit by 2005 there was no doubt that he was still a very formidable opponent - the man Cameron and Osborne privately and cravenly referred to as the "Master".
This time they are up against a bumbling, incompetent, uncharismatic fool and a front bench that are, amazingly, even less credible.
I think if the Conservatives found a leader of reasonable stature who had something convincing to say in answer tothe country's problems they could be back in the running much quicker. Kemi isn't bad, but I don't think she's that person.
So while I think she will do alright, there is scope for a much better leader to do much better, and saying that it will take 8-10 years reminds me of those who were forecasting in 2019 that the 2020s belonged entirely to the Conservatives.
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
Ignoring all the rules on toilet flushing in apartment blocks.... Switzerland, Luxembourg, RoI have high GDP/capita because multinationals book their profits there, it's "empty calories". They're not big employers in those countries.
I always lived in apartment blocks and never encountered a toilet issue - suspect it's folklore! I was working in Basel, and there were lots of big employers who paid well - I had a middle management IT job and when I was elected in the UK my income went down by 40% - fortunately being an MP was so interesting that it didn't really matter.
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
Are the BBC ignoring it?
It's the top story on BBC News website, as a live feed.
Not that I'd blame them for ignoring it given how many false dawns there have been.
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
Are the BBC ignoring it?
" the Yanks are going home"
With their tails between their legs. And Netanyahu is 'sick as a parrot'!
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
You regard this as a piece of analysis do you?
It's merely a counter to the hackneyed chant of "you can't tax your way to growth".
Growth is complicated.
And a lot of things that were once tailwinds to growth -like falling birthrates and increased life expectancy- are now headwinds. And at the same time, we (as in the developed world) are no longer the only purchasers of raw materials; now we need to compete with China, India and a host of other rapidly developing nations. That means we're paying more for commodities at the same time that every worker is supporting more and more retirees.
If there were easy answers, then politicians would have already implemented them.
Doesn't stop them offering easy answers and the public believing them.
Also doesn’t mean there aren’t some relatively easy answers out there that could help at least marginally. It’s the total transformation narrative that’s the fairytale.
A few examples which the data tell us should work:
- sorting out the distorted marginal tax rates and thresholds that inhibit labour market participation - Tilting tax and monetary policy to encourage more consumer spending, business spending, investment in riskier but higher yielding assets and discourage saving in low yield assets - Liberalisation of planning rules for infrastructure - restructuring the energy market to allow regional pricing - Providing fully state run (rather than subsidised) early years childcare for working parents - Rejoining the single market - Cutting corporation tax to 15%
And so on. Aggregation of marginal gains
I am not sure that 'Rejoining the Single Market', ie reinstating freedom of movement for 500,000,000 Europeans, counts as as easy answer. Even though I support it. Lots don't.
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
Are the BBC ignoring it?
Surely if it's China it will be brawn over brain, although in this case the amount of brain needed was very small.
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
Ignoring all the rules on toilet flushing in apartment blocks.... Switzerland, Luxembourg, RoI have high GDP/capita because multinationals book their profits there, it's "empty calories". They're not big employers in those countries.
I always lived in apartment blocks and never encountered a toilet issue - suspect it's folklore! I was working in Basel, and there were lots of big employers who paid well - I had a middle management IT job and when I was elected in the UK my income went down by 40% - fortunately being an MP was so interesting that it didn't really matter.
A friend worked in Zurich for a while, there was a curfew for flushing and washing machines in the block, the neighbours came round to highlight the rules.
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
The way they pay for healthcare is effectively a tax, but not counted as a tax, which flatters their figure, doesn't it?
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
Are the BBC ignoring it?
It will be if it is confirmed by both sides and Parkistan
Maybe caution is best because who trusts any of Iran US Israel ?
Hang on. The reported memorandum (which Iran hasn't even agreed to, and Trump has threatened cataclysmic attacks if they don't), sets a 30 day limit to agree the trivial matters of sanctions, the status of the Straits of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme. This is hardly peace. And stock markets are wilfully blind to all this.
Hang on. The reported memorandum (which Iran hasn't even agreed to, and Trump has threatened cataclysmic attacks if they don't), sets a 30 day limit to agree the trivial matters of sanctions, the status of the Straits of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme. This is hardly peace. And stock markets are wilfully blind to all this.
Lots of gaming the markets before and after announcements and many millions being earned by malign means
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
Ignoring all the rules on toilet flushing in apartment blocks.... Switzerland, Luxembourg, RoI have high GDP/capita because multinationals book their profits there, it's "empty calories". They're not big employers in those countries.
I always lived in apartment blocks and never encountered a toilet issue - suspect it's folklore! I was working in Basel, and there were lots of big employers who paid well - I had a middle management IT job and when I was elected in the UK my income went down by 40% - fortunately being an MP was so interesting that it didn't really matter.
A friend worked in Zurich for a while, there was a curfew for flushing and washing machines in the block, the neighbours came round to highlight the rules.
This will delight the right wingers lauding switzerland, they spend less than 1% GDP on defence, probably not got many frigates either.
Hang on. The reported memorandum (which Iran hasn't even agreed to, and Trump has threatened cataclysmic attacks if they don't), sets a 30 day limit to agree the trivial matters of sanctions, the status of the Straits of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme. This is hardly peace. And stock markets are wilfully blind to all this.
Lots of gaming the markets before and after announcements and many millions being earned by malign means
When all this is unravelled after DJT's death the Trump family is going to NEED friends in Argentina!
"We can deduce it may take 8-10 years for the Tories to be fully rehabilitated this time around."
I think that's phony precision and too determinative by far.
The Conservatives between 1994 and 2007 had the overwhelming problem that they were running against a once in a century political genius. Though his shine had started to rub off a bit by 2005 there was no doubt that he was still a very formidable opponent - the man Cameron and Osborne privately and cravenly referred to as the "Master".
This time they are up against a bumbling, incompetent, uncharismatic fool and a front bench that are, amazingly, even less credible.
I think if the Conservatives found a leader of reasonable stature who had something convincing to say in answer tothe country's problems they could be back in the running much quicker. Kemi isn't bad, but I don't think she's that person.
So while I think she will do alright, there is scope for a much better leader to do much better, and saying that it will take 8-10 years reminds me of those who were forecasting in 2019 that the 2020s belonged entirely to the Conservatives.
The question is who on the Tory front bench is better than Badenoch. It ain't obvious. Amongst the 100 odd possibles its a mix of old has beens and yet to be tested. @HYUFD always goes for the old lags.
Certainly not a very traditional name for a road. But new estates often have road names with a theme, so perhaps Pork Pie Road will be at home along with Fish & Chips Avenue etc.
Surely the big story is that the US Iran contratemps is over? The stock market has shot up and the Yanks are going home. I hear the reason is China! They said enough is enough and that was that. A victory for brain over brawn...
Are the BBC ignoring it?
It's the top story on BBC News website, as a live feed.
Not that I'd blame them for ignoring it given how many false dawns there have been.
Must be at least the 10th time it has been over, people will believe anything.
Mmm. Wiki disagrees. I wonder if some have become Indies? Nevertheless. To lose more than 50 when you have 52 is still a worthy achievement. Particularly when the vote share has them three points out of first place.
Why does Polanski continue to dig a deeper hole for himself ?
I think the vast majority of the public couldn’t care less if the perpetrator was kicked in the head . If you attempt to kill people then refuse to hand over the knife you get what you deserve !
If I’m thinking this as a so called leftie liberal then I think Polanski has really scored a spectacular own goal !
If the man is schitzophrenic and has no control over his actions isn't it better that we have authorities who still care about his safety? We could always do it the American way and just shoot him but surely if at all possible the other way must be better? It made me feel rather queasy just beating up and kicking someone who was clearly not in control of himself
This is facile. In that situation there are a lot of people who deserve to have their safety cared about, not least the police themselves who were presumably at risk of being stabbed next.
We can have a sensible discussion about motive, blame, punishment etc. But to argue that the police should have held back from whatever they needed to do to disarm him is to see only one tiny part of the picture of potential harms here.
I can just imagine the scene, a terrorist is on a stabbing spree in a train station, pc plod turns up and instead of rushing to disarm him they get on the megaphone and ask "are you a schizo?"
Some people just don't live in the real world, Roger is one of them. I think sometimes he's still on the set of that Lebanese advert with bikini clad women singing this praises hoping for a passport.
Here are the three police head-kick lines I have heard. I do not know that any has taken off.
1) the stabber was on the ground and had been tasered 2) possibly the reason he did not let go of the knife was the taser meant his knife-holding muscles were in spasm 3) authorities were too quick to play up the antisemitism angle and ignored that he'd stabbed a Muslim man the same day
As well as the pro-police lines already mentioned, it has also been suggested the head-kicking coppers feared he had a suicide bomb.
You don't know why someone has not let go of the knife. You only know that the person still has the weapon and therefore continues to be a danger.
Now, in an ideal world, you probably kick the knife out of the attacker's hands. But this isn't an ideal world: it's a guy with a knife whose stabbed people, and you want to disarm him as soon as possible (while opening yourself up to as little risk as possible).
Accepted but I was merely reporting what was being said.
I think the article is wrong . Labour would be totally wiped out if they lost 50 seats . Can you be just 3 points behind Reform and end up with no councillors at all ?
Certainly not a very traditional name for a road. But new estates often have road names with a theme, so perhaps Pork Pie Road will be at home along with Fish & Chips Avenue etc.
The US Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to let it intervene in President Donald Trump’s appeal of the $83.3 million jury verdict against him in a defamation suit brought by former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. https://x.com/josh_wingrove/status/2052028495375544795
Off topic: Here’s a Russian sinner who has repented:
When Ilya Remeslo, a longtime Kremlin attack lawyer and propagandist, first turned against Vladimir Putin in March, posting publicly that the Russian president should resign and be brought to justice as “a war criminal and a thief,” the Russian authorities rapidly carted Remeslo off — against his will — to a St. Petersburg psychiatric hospital.
But, in a highly unusual development for a regime that is notorious for incarcerating its critics for years, Remeslo was freed after 30 days. Now, the pro-Kremlin henchman and blogger, who worked for the presidential administration for about a decade smearing opposition activists, is vowing to remain in Russia and continue a public anti-Putin fight.
This is a bit awkward for the Thatcherite economists.
Britain has eight big North European neighbours. Of them Britain has, 1/ The weakest economy. 2/ The lowest taxes. 3/ The lowest marginal tax rate on labour at high incomes. The right should be less confident sneering at the idea of "taxing for growth". https://x.com/thomasforth/status/2051763318222659963
Try Switzerland, even lower taxes than the UK and higher gdp per capita than all those 8
But it's also a disturbingly highly regulated country (outside of banking).
Really? I lived there for 18 years, mixing with all sorts of people, and never heard that criticism, nor did I ever run into regulatory problems myself. It's quite a conformist country in many ways, but that's on the whole an advantage - it's just a more critical description of "united".
Ignoring all the rules on toilet flushing in apartment blocks.... Switzerland, Luxembourg, RoI have high GDP/capita because multinationals book their profits there, it's "empty calories". They're not big employers in those countries.
I always lived in apartment blocks and never encountered a toilet issue - suspect it's folklore! I was working in Basel, and there were lots of big employers who paid well - I had a middle management IT job and when I was elected in the UK my income went down by 40% - fortunately being an MP was so interesting that it didn't really matter.
A friend worked in Zurich for a while, there was a curfew for flushing and washing machines in the block, the neighbours came round to highlight the rules.
You hear the same thing about estates (or HOAs) in the Land of the Free having all sorts of petty rules. It's almost a meme for Hollywood scriptwriters.
Mmm. Wiki disagrees. I wonder if some have become Indies? Nevertheless. To lose more than 50 when you have 52 is still a worthy achievement. Particularly when the vote share has them three points out of first place.
Reform making even more of a mess than Labour did in my old home town is going to funny. Unless you live there and want the bins emptying of course.
I think the article is wrong . Labour would be totally wiped out if they lost 50 seats . Can you be just 3 points behind Reform and end up with no councillors at all ?
The link is working again. It says they'd be on 14 which is down 51 from the 65 they got in 2022.
Certainly not a very traditional name for a road. But new estates often have road names with a theme, so perhaps Pork Pie Road will be at home along with Fish & Chips Avenue etc.
Biryani Boulevard and Chicken Chasseur Close sound good.
The real kicker of the Golders Green stabbing story is this: if the attacker had been a racist white man, trying to kill as many black people - old and young - as possible - I do not believe for a second that Zak Polanski and Owen Jones and @Roger and @Theuniondivvie of this here parish would be remotely concerned about the police kicking him in the head, as the white racist attacker held on to the knife, resisted arrest, and carried on trying to kill black people
Indeed, I am sure these same commenters would be praising the police, for acting with great courage, not killing the man, taking risks to their own lives to restrain him without lethal force
So what's the difference? The difference is partly that the attacker was brown, but mainly that the victims were Jews. Trying to kill Jews is somehow not as bad as trying to kill black people, ergo the attacker should be shown more mercy and sympathy
In other words, all the pious outrage is in fact driven by a pretty evil racism, AKA anti-Semitism
On Birmingham. Shamelessly borrowed from woollyliberal on the Vote UK site.
"Labour started the current council with 65/101. Deselections, Resignations, Defections and a Death leave them with just 51, and when some of those deselections didn’t turn up, the Labour leader lost a confidence vote in the last full council of the municipal year.
Conservative started and finished with 22, if you include the semi-detached Simon Morrall, who is contesting his seat as an independent this time.
The Lib Dems won 12 last time. Ayoub Khan defected to Independent just before winning his parliamentary seat. One defection and one by-election gain from Labour leave them with 13.
The Greens started and finished with 2, which leaves 10 ex-Labour independents."
So they could lose more than 50 to go down to 14. But not by any reasonable definition of "lose".
Can somebody explain the fascination with Katie Lam? Some fellow PBers worship her. The press promote her as an (the?) heir to Thatcher. I’m at a loss to explain or understand her appeal. Im not sure that I’ve ever heard her speak.
Now don’t all rush to condemn me for ignorance or naïveté. I hold multiple doctorates, run multiple businesses and come from a political background. I just do not understand the so-called appeal of Lam. Explain it to me in simple terms.
So Reform on 26% get over 40 seats and Labour I think were on 14 seats with 23% of the vote .
Is that really possible even with the vagaries of FPTP ?
No crazier than the Reform/Lib Dem outcome in 2024. Or the Lab/Con one.
If the Reform vote is efficiently clumped, and Labour's vote is mediocre everywhere, it's what might happen.
Labour really ought to lose in Birmingham on their local merits. Unless you use social care, councils increasingly only have one job- emptying bins. And they've failed at that job.
Whether their defeat should look like this is another question, but that's FPTP for you.
There’s not going to be a hantavirus pandemic. Transmission is symptomatic and close contact. Covid was thankfully unusual in its nature. (As in most viruses are not like it).
The US Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to let it intervene in President Donald Trump’s appeal of the $83.3 million jury verdict against him in a defamation suit brought by former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. https://x.com/josh_wingrove/status/2052028495375544795
They'll do it too. Even though he can easily afford it.
There seems to have been a lot of focus on the results to come out of Birmingham. Granted, it is a huge place and it has been dramatic in the last five years, but I'm still surprised there have been multiple polls trying to predict the local results there, as it is quite hard with local councils.
That slight and subtle tang on the breeze, that distant but perceptible sharpness. The rumour of a story of a tale told by a neighbour, of a cold wind, where the road bends
We are just six weeks from the nights drawing in. Autumn is on the way
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
I’m amber and, to be fair to the Reform council, quite a few potholes by me have been fixed recently as well as more visible maintenance.
There should be a special ultra-purple for The Bishop's Avenue, which doesn't have pot holes, it's more a dense sequence of vast, terrifying chasms, with the occasional weird flat bit, that could be ancient traces of road
There’s not going to be a hantavirus pandemic. Transmission is symptomatic and close contact. Covid was thankfully unusual in its nature. (As in most viruses are not like it).
Millions would refuse to lockdown, whatever form the next virus is claimed to be..💩
That slight and subtle tang on the breeze, that distant but perceptible sharpness. The rumour of a story of a tale told by a neighbour, of a cold wind, where the road bends
We are just six weeks from the nights drawing in. Autumn is on the way
That slight and subtle tang on the breeze, that distant but perceptible sharpness. The rumour of a story of a tale told by a neighbour, of a cold wind, where the road bends
We are just six weeks from the nights drawing in. Autumn is on the way
Can somebody explain the fascination with Katie Lam? Some fellow PBers worship her. The press promote her as an (the?) heir to Thatcher. I’m at a loss to explain or understand her appeal. Im not sure that I’ve ever heard her speak.
Now don’t all rush to condemn me for ignorance or naïveté. I hold multiple doctorates, run multiple businesses and come from a political background. I just do not understand the so-called appeal of Lam. Explain it to me in simple terms.
The media and PB are desperate for another Thatcher. Katie Lam is currently the closest. Therefore, said media and PB contributors are bigging up Katie Lam.
There’s not going to be a hantavirus pandemic. Transmission is symptomatic and close contact. Covid was thankfully unusual in its nature. (As in most viruses are not like it).
Millions would refuse to lockdown, whatever form the next virus is claimed to be..💩
At a 30% fatality rate they'd auto-lock down harder than your skull.
The real kicker of the Golders Green stabbing story is this: if the attacker had been a racist white man, trying to kill as many black people - old and young - as possible - I do not believe for a second that Zak Polanski and Owen Jones and @Roger and @Theuniondivvie of this here parish would be remotely concerned about the police kicking him in the head, as the white racist attacker held on to the knife, resisted arrest, and carried on trying to kill black people
Indeed, I am sure these same commenters would be praising the police, for acting with great courage, not killing the man, taking risks to their own lives to restrain him without lethal force
So what's the difference? The difference is partly that the attacker was brown, but mainly that the victims were Jews. Trying to kill Jews is somehow not as bad as trying to kill black people, ergo the attacker should be shown more mercy and sympathy
In other words, all the pious outrage is in fact driven by a pretty evil racism, AKA anti-Semitism
The other difference is that you’re posting incessantly about it, which signals the ethnicity of the perpetrator to PB’ers as clear as day.
That slight and subtle tang on the breeze, that distant but perceptible sharpness. The rumour of a story of a tale told by a neighbour, of a cold wind, where the road bends
We are just six weeks from the nights drawing in. Autumn is on the way
Up in Cumberland (red for pot holes by the way, see above, and it's a significant issue) that sharpness is the residual elements of last winter not the harbinger of the next autumn. The recent snow on the fells was last winter, not next. We are all a bit behind. We may have a few days of summer randomly distributed in June and July, and there was a single day a week or so back when everyone wore tee shirts and shorts. But fairly dry. It hasn't actually rained for about 12 hours.
Can somebody explain the fascination with Katie Lam? Some fellow PBers worship her. The press promote her as an (the?) heir to Thatcher. I’m at a loss to explain or understand her appeal. Im not sure that I’ve ever heard her speak.
Now don’t all rush to condemn me for ignorance or naïveté. I hold multiple doctorates, run multiple businesses and come from a political background. I just do not understand the so-called appeal of Lam. Explain it to me in simple terms.
She’s relatively untainted by the Tories’ past utter incompetence, sleaze and mendacity, and - at least at first glance - relatively media friendly. And she compares well with all the others - admittedly a very low bar.
The real kicker of the Golders Green stabbing story is this: if the attacker had been a racist white man, trying to kill as many black people - old and young - as possible - I do not believe for a second that Zak Polanski and Owen Jones and @Roger and @Theuniondivvie of this here parish would be remotely concerned about the police kicking him in the head, as the white racist attacker held on to the knife, resisted arrest, and carried on trying to kill black people
Indeed, I am sure these same commenters would be praising the police, for acting with great courage, not killing the man, taking risks to their own lives to restrain him without lethal force
So what's the difference? The difference is partly that the attacker was brown, but mainly that the victims were Jews. Trying to kill Jews is somehow not as bad as trying to kill black people, ergo the attacker should be shown more mercy and sympathy
In other words, all the pious outrage is in fact driven by a pretty evil racism, AKA anti-Semitism
The other difference is that you’re posting incessantly about it, which signals the ethnicity of the perpetrator to PB’ers as clear as day.
Because the story is live. It is driving down the ratings of the Green leader, on the verge of what is meant to be their big breakthrough election
Can somebody explain the fascination with Katie Lam? Some fellow PBers worship her. The press promote her as an (the?) heir to Thatcher. I’m at a loss to explain or understand her appeal. Im not sure that I’ve ever heard her speak.
Now don’t all rush to condemn me for ignorance or naïveté. I hold multiple doctorates, run multiple businesses and come from a political background. I just do not understand the so-called appeal of Lam. Explain it to me in simple terms.
The media and PB are desperate for another Thatcher. Katie Lam is currently the closest. Therefore, said media and PB contributors are bigging up Katie Lam.
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
I’m amber and, to be fair to the Reform council, quite a few potholes by me have been fixed recently as well as more visible maintenance.
In my locality, our lives have been disrupted and made horribly difficult by road works for months. Somehow it just adds insult to injury when you find that, once the roadworks have moved on a few hundred yards, you see they didn't fix the potholes in the bits of road alongside where they were actually digging up/resurfacing.
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
Me too, makes me worried for the rest of the country.
We were held up on a single track road in the highlands this afternoon by a council worker filling in a pothole. After he had thrown some shovelfuls of tarmac into said pothole, Mrs. F and I had a discussion about how it would be levelled. Mrs. F chose the back of the shovel. I chose the worker’s boots. We were both wrong. The pickup driver drove backwards and forwards over the pothole until the tarmac was compacted to their satisfaction. I give the repair a month.
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
I’m amber and, to be fair to the Reform council, quite a few potholes by me have been fixed recently as well as more visible maintenance.
In my locality, our lives have been disrupted and made horribly difficult by road works for months. Somehow it just adds insult to injury when you find that, once the roadworks have moved on a few hundred yards, you see they didn't fix the potholes in the bits of road alongside where they were actually digging up/resurfacing.
You’d think there’d be some joined up thinking when they do these things and if solving one problem they’d do another while there.
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
I’m amber and, to be fair to the Reform council, quite a few potholes by me have been fixed recently as well as more visible maintenance.
There should be a special ultra-purple for The Bishop's Avenue, which doesn't have pot holes, it's more a dense sequence of vast, terrifying chasms, with the occasional weird flat bit, that could be ancient traces of road
Purple seems the appropriate colour for The Bishop’s Avenue.
Expectations for Labour have been driven so low that you begin to wonder whether, if they save any number of seats at all, they may be able to claim it wasn’t as bad as predicted.
Comments
I can be persuaded he survives another year but that's after setting out the date he quits. He's not just going to go on without some kind of "I will quit" message.
Why would Tibetan monks believe God would end the world if they wrote out names?
They don't believe in God.
Edit. They firmly and devoutly believe in the non-existence of an omnipotent Deity.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/parentscountryofbirth
‘ Peta objects to 'pig-demeaning' pork pie road name’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jv8322z88o
Even AI is taking the jobs of virulent Islamapobes and giving them to *checks notes* a devout Muslim living in Pakistan.
For me the interesting thing is the level of people getting their news from social media sites is alarmingly high (even here a lot of obviously flawed stuff gets posted). Yet, the incentives of the websites involved and the content producers are skewed about as far from the truth as possible.
To some extent I am sure these influencers are simply surfing the latest outrage rather than “inventing/creating” it. But ultimately they are amplifying it simply for revenue and that may solidify other people’s views or seep into the public discourse.
A horrible mess really - and one unleashed on us by the logic of the attention economy and the various owners of these websites - but worth bearing in mind when folks want to share stuff on one of those sites or claim that “people are outraged on x,y, or z website.”
I think that's phony precision and too determinative by far.
The Conservatives between 1994 and 2007 had the overwhelming problem that they were running against a once in a century political genius. Though his shine had started to rub off a bit by 2005 there was no doubt that he was still a very formidable opponent - the man Cameron and Osborne privately and cravenly referred to as the "Master".
This time they are up against a bumbling, incompetent, uncharismatic fool and a front bench that are, amazingly, even less credible.
I think if the Conservatives found a leader of reasonable stature who had something convincing to say in answer tothe country's problems they could be back in the running much quicker. Kemi isn't bad, but I don't think she's that person.
So while I think she will do alright, there is scope for a much better leader to do much better, and saying that it will take 8-10 years reminds me of those who were forecasting in 2019 that the 2020s belonged entirely to the Conservatives.
Are the BBC ignoring it?
Not that I'd blame them for ignoring it given how many false dawns there have been.
With their tails between their legs. And Netanyahu is 'sick as a parrot'!
I hope.
Maybe caution is best because who trusts any of Iran US Israel ?
The reported memorandum (which Iran hasn't even agreed to, and Trump has threatened cataclysmic attacks if they don't), sets a 30 day limit to agree the trivial matters of sanctions, the status of the Straits of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme.
This is hardly peace.
And stock markets are wilfully blind to all this.
Labour wipeout: Party could lose more than 50 seats in Birmingham City Council, poll suggests
The poll predicts Reform UK to get 47 seats, Independents to get 17, Labour to have 14, The Greens 12, Lib Dems 7 and the Conservatives 6.
So that would be some achievement.
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50068/how_the_council_works/882/political_composition_of_the_council
The original showed Reform just 3 points ahead of Labour but somehow winning over 2 and a half times the amount of councillors.
Looks like FPTP on steroids !
Is that really possible even with the vagaries of FPTP ?
Wiki disagrees.
I wonder if some have become Indies?
Nevertheless. To lose more than 50 when you have 52 is still a worthy achievement.
Particularly when the vote share has them three points out of first place.
The US Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to let it intervene in President Donald Trump’s appeal of the $83.3 million jury verdict against him in a defamation suit brought by former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
https://x.com/josh_wingrove/status/2052028495375544795
Good luck to him. (He’ll need less luck if he stays away from high windows.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Birmingham_City_Council_election
Labour can’t lose 51 seats and end up with 14 seats if they only had 49 or 52 to begin with depending on which source is correct .
Maybe the media might do their job before the next election !
@PollTracker2024
·
5h
NPR/PBS/Marist poll | 4/27-4/30
Generic congressional ballot 2026 (registered voters)
🟦Democratic 52% (-1)
🟥Republican 42% (-2)
https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2051996256638062704
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy92djdl5gno
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8v3gkezl4o
So f*ck off rats.
So f*ck off rats.
Indeed, I am sure these same commenters would be praising the police, for acting with great courage, not killing the man, taking risks to their own lives to restrain him without lethal force
So what's the difference? The difference is partly that the attacker was brown, but mainly that the victims were Jews. Trying to kill Jews is somehow not as bad as trying to kill black people, ergo the attacker should be shown more mercy and sympathy
In other words, all the pious outrage is in fact driven by a pretty evil racism, AKA anti-Semitism
"Labour started the current council with 65/101. Deselections, Resignations, Defections and a Death leave them with just 51, and when some of those deselections didn’t turn up, the Labour leader lost a confidence vote in the last full council of the municipal year.
Conservative started and finished with 22, if you include the semi-detached Simon Morrall, who is contesting his seat as an independent this time.
The Lib Dems won 12 last time. Ayoub Khan defected to Independent just before winning his parliamentary seat. One defection and one by-election gain from Labour leave them with 13.
The Greens started and finished with 2, which leaves 10 ex-Labour independents."
So they could lose more than 50 to go down to 14.
But not by any reasonable definition of "lose".
Now don’t all rush to condemn me for ignorance or naïveté. I hold multiple doctorates, run multiple businesses and come from a political background. I just do not understand the so-called appeal of Lam. Explain it to me in simple terms.
If the Reform vote is efficiently clumped, and Labour's vote is mediocre everywhere, it's what might happen.
Labour really ought to lose in Birmingham on their local merits. Unless you use social care, councils increasingly only have one job- emptying bins. And they've failed at that job.
Whether their defeat should look like this is another question, but that's FPTP for you.
I'm in a Green-coloured area on this map. And we have shitloads of potholes.
That slight and subtle tang on the breeze, that distant but perceptible sharpness. The rumour of a story of a tale told by a neighbour, of a cold wind, where the road bends
We are just six weeks from the nights drawing in. Autumn is on the way
It's decidedly subtle,. only a sensitive poet type like me can really discern it, but it is there
🚨 A bombshell Birmingham poll just dropped on the eve of voting
➡️ RFM: 47
👤 IND: 17
🌹 LAB: 14
🌍 GRN: 12
🌳 CON: 6
🔶 LDM: 5
Labour faces its WORST ever result in the city
Independents surge to become 2nd largest group
https://x.com/LewisJWarner/status/2052086011736326290?s=20