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  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 60,375
    Forget all other news:

    BBC BREAKING: "Surrey Police says it is investigating two separate allegations of "non-recent child sexual abuse" following the release of the Epstein files.

    The force says that one relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire in the mid 1990s to 2000. The other relates to the mid to late 1980s in west Surrey.

    No arrests have been made, it added."
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 50,675


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 8,082

    One can only laugh in the darkness


    "NEW

    Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announces that the new lower speed curtailed HS2 trains between Old Oak Common and Brum will not run start running for at least a decade, and might not start until.. 2039."

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/2056713405981962483?s=20

    What are the chances it ends up SLOWER than the trains we have now?

    What we need is an inquiry into how and why HS2 was such a clusterfuck. They should aim to start the inquiry sometime in the early 2030s, make sure it runs for at least 53 years and costs sixteen quintillion pounds, also ensure it concludes after everyone responsible is dead, and most of the earth is barren wasteland from global warming, and at the end the verdict has to be "lessons will be learned"
    😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆
    I wish I could give you more than one like!
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 59,834
    kinabalu said:


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
    It might be worth putting money on the Restore candidate if that turns out to be right.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 60,375

    One can only laugh in the darkness


    "NEW

    Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announces that the new lower speed curtailed HS2 trains between Old Oak Common and Brum will not run start running for at least a decade, and might not start until.. 2039."

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/2056713405981962483?s=20

    What are the chances it ends up SLOWER than the trains we have now?

    Especially if you are travelling from Central London and have to get to Old Oak Common.
    BTW how much of the £102.7bn cost is to pay lawyers and consultants?
    Images of it being overtaken by Delboy Trotter's 3-wheeler....
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093
    eek said:

    eek said:

    TV presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe have been announced as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgep5ez80rzo

    Why does it always seem that when replacing presenters we always end up with more. How many presenters, talking heads, commentators are now involved in football matches. It can be main presenter, 3 talking heads, then sideline presenter with 1-2 more talking heads, then main commentator and 2 more co-commentators and now the ref expert.....

    No money though. Can't afford Hard Talk, that one bloke in a simple studio with couple of cameras.

    Strictly superfan here.

    The rumours are that JoJo will also be working on It Takes Two so it’s part of that as that show is changing formats too as well as losing its hosts.
    The thing is you don't actually have much option with the other hosts.

    Live TV hosting is why more complex than people think it is so you are left choosing from a few safe pairs of hands, many of whom won't want it.
    Claudia's job equally requires someone who can turn on a six pence calm someone down and add a quick joke to change the tone. The original plan seems to have been Chris Ramsey but he didn't want it and is touring then anyway.
    Yes and no. This is the same argument the BBC deploys for why it pays its 'talent' so much. Genuinely there are thousands of people who could do this, its not limited to people that the public already knows. The decision making is that the public want familiarity with Lineker rather than a brilliant but unknown presenter for a 1/10 the price.
    You are spending £xm on a TV show, you don't give it to someone the public may hate as soon as they see them...
    Thank God they pay top dollar to the likes of Paddy McGuinness then !

    That’s the problem with the BBC, it essentially competes with commercial entities with a guaranteed revenue stream. Time to ditch the license fee and let them compete for their money for the commercial style channels and fund a basic public service from a license fee as well as other stuff like transmission.

  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 28,756

    eek said:

    TV presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe have been announced as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgep5ez80rzo

    Why does it always seem that when replacing presenters we always end up with more. How many presenters, talking heads, commentators are now involved in football matches. It can be main presenter, 3 talking heads, then sideline presenter with 1-2 more talking heads, then main commentator and 2 more co-commentators and now the ref expert.....

    No money though. Can't afford Hard Talk, that one bloke in a simple studio with couple of cameras.

    Strictly superfan here.

    The rumours are that JoJo will also be working on It Takes Two so it’s part of that as that show is changing formats too as well as losing its hosts.
    The thing is you don't actually have much option with the other hosts.

    Live TV hosting is why more complex than people think it is so you are left choosing from a few safe pairs of hands, many of whom won't want it.
    Claudia's job equally requires someone who can turn on a six pence calm someone down and add a quick joke to change the tone. The original plan seems to have been Chris Ramsey but he didn't want it and is touring then anyway.
    Yes and no. This is the same argument the BBC deploys for why it pays its 'talent' so much. Genuinely there are thousands of people who could do this, its not limited to people that the public already knows. The decision making is that the public want familiarity with Lineker rather than a brilliant but unknown presenter for a 1/10 the price.
    You may remember the film "Broadcast News" from the 80s. It was the time when the terrestrial networks were facing competition from CNN for news, and they reacted in the same way: throwing larger and larger sums of money at "star" newsreaders to (try to) retain reach and share.
  • eekeek Posts: 33,909
    kinabalu said:


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
    You have to wonder wtf a right wing account posted on X that resulted in their account being banned - given what other right wing accounts post without an issue...
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 18,453

    Off topic:

    While I was walking through Leeds City Railway Station this morning, an announcement was made over the public address asking for a "Pat Cox" to make themselves known to a member of staff.

    Mike Hunt must have missed his train.

    The Reform candidate in the recent council elections in a ward not far from me was actually named Michael Hunt. Poor chap. One hopes he goes by the name Mickey.
    He can move to Scotland, where his brother Mark is more popular.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 28,756

    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/2056745149653270942

    If I told you our canvassing returns in Makerfield, nobody would believe me. They are that good.

    Something is happening out there.

    "Oh, I thought you said 'Reform'. Who are 'Restore'?"
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 61,676
    Cyclefree said:

    BBC article about Afghanistan, specifically about Afghan men selling their young daughters in order to be able to buy food.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q25dwj807o

    A hideous reality. Though since Afghan men have created, followed and supported an ideology under the Taliban which treats the female sex worse than cattle my sympathy for those men is at a homeopathic level.

    But what is remarkable about this story is how the BBC writes about this as if the men are the victims here, how dreadful it all is for the men and asks no questions at all about why it is girls who are being sold and what they are being sold for - to be blunt, to be serially raped by much older men.

    The BBC makes those girls as invisible in the perspective with which this report has been written as they are in Afghan society.

    BBC World got a Community Note for their framing of the story.

    https://x.com/bbcworld/status/2056483177653313557
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093
    viewcode said:

    eek said:

    TV presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe have been announced as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgep5ez80rzo

    Why does it always seem that when replacing presenters we always end up with more. How many presenters, talking heads, commentators are now involved in football matches. It can be main presenter, 3 talking heads, then sideline presenter with 1-2 more talking heads, then main commentator and 2 more co-commentators and now the ref expert.....

    No money though. Can't afford Hard Talk, that one bloke in a simple studio with couple of cameras.

    Strictly superfan here.

    The rumours are that JoJo will also be working on It Takes Two so it’s part of that as that show is changing formats too as well as losing its hosts.
    The thing is you don't actually have much option with the other hosts.

    Live TV hosting is why more complex than people think it is so you are left choosing from a few safe pairs of hands, many of whom won't want it.
    Claudia's job equally requires someone who can turn on a six pence calm someone down and add a quick joke to change the tone. The original plan seems to have been Chris Ramsey but he didn't want it and is touring then anyway.
    Yes and no. This is the same argument the BBC deploys for why it pays its 'talent' so much. Genuinely there are thousands of people who could do this, its not limited to people that the public already knows. The decision making is that the public want familiarity with Lineker rather than a brilliant but unknown presenter for a 1/10 the price.
    You may remember the film "Broadcast News" from the 80s. It was the time when the terrestrial networks were facing competition from CNN for news, and they reacted in the same way: throwing larger and larger sums of money at "star" newsreaders to (try to) retain reach and share.
    Even in recent years you’ve had poaching of stars, few of whom succeeded. Ross Kemp, Martin Kemp (not his brother, Adrian Chiles and there will be others who had vehicles then massively flopped

    Graham Norton’s new reality show crashed and burned.

    So did the Genius game.

    The format has to work as well as the presenter.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 91,949
    viewcode said:

    Not looking good for the Baby Yoda film saving the Star Wars franchise...

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_mandalorian_and_grogu

    Hmm. I haven't seen the Jeremy Jahns review yet but with a 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a predicted $500 million worldwide take on a movie with a $165million budget, that's not...bad?

    Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu - Movie Review
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p56WTvdG7g4
  • Sandpit said:

    Cyclefree said:

    BBC article about Afghanistan, specifically about Afghan men selling their young daughters in order to be able to buy food.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q25dwj807o

    A hideous reality. Though since Afghan men have created, followed and supported an ideology under the Taliban which treats the female sex worse than cattle my sympathy for those men is at a homeopathic level.

    But what is remarkable about this story is how the BBC writes about this as if the men are the victims here, how dreadful it all is for the men and asks no questions at all about why it is girls who are being sold and what they are being sold for - to be blunt, to be serially raped by much older men.

    The BBC makes those girls as invisible in the perspective with which this report has been written as they are in Afghan society.

    BBC World got a Community Note for their framing of the story.

    https://x.com/bbcworld/status/2056483177653313557
    The report is a bloody disgrace. @Cyclefree is right
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 50,675

    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/2056745149653270942

    If I told you our canvassing returns in Makerfield, nobody would believe me. They are that good.

    Something is happening out there.

    Could Yarmouth be Rupert's Jinggang Mountains?
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 22,860

    One can only laugh in the darkness


    "NEW

    Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announces that the new lower speed curtailed HS2 trains between Old Oak Common and Brum will not run start running for at least a decade, and might not start until.. 2039."

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/2056713405981962483?s=20

    What are the chances it ends up SLOWER than the trains we have now?

    Especially if you are travelling from Central London and have to get to Old Oak Common.
    BTW how much of the £102.7bn cost is to pay lawyers and consultants?
    Saving grace is that Old Oak Common feeds into Crossrail, which gives you the West End, City and Docklands, the last two better than Euston, really. Oh, and Romford (centre of the universe).

    As for the lawyer/consultant thing, how much of that is because the damn thing has been rejigged so many times? One of the reasons that so little gets done around here is that we are collectively bad at saying 'even if your idea is a good one, we've decided how we want to do this and we just need to get on with it now'.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 89,609
    Westminster Voting Intention:

    RFM: 25% (-3)
    CON: 18% (+1)
    LAB: 17% (+1)
    GRN: 15% (-1)
    LDM: 14% (+1)
    RES: 4% (+1)
    SNP: 3% (=)

    Via @YouGov, 17-18 May.
    Changes w/ 10-11 May.

    https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/2056657906448073200
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 43,511
    @DPJHodges

    Is this genuinely what Reform thinks vetting a high profile candidate involves. “It’s all fine. We’ve just made his socials vanish”.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 91,949
    edited May 19
    Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz will miss this year's Wimbledon because of an ongoing wrist injury.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 20,934

    kinabalu said:


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
    It might be worth putting money on the Restore candidate if that turns out to be right.
    Enough money has already gone on the Restore candidate that the odds available are preposterously short, even if the Reform candidate implodes.

    The Restore candidate already has something truly damning on them. That is, they support Restore.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 32,559

    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/2056745149653270942

    If I told you our canvassing returns in Makerfield, nobody would believe me. They are that good.

    Something is happening out there.

    Who is conducting these given they only announced a candidate yesterday?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,566

    NEW THREAD

  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 20,934
    Taz said:

    eek said:

    eek said:

    TV presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe have been announced as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgep5ez80rzo

    Why does it always seem that when replacing presenters we always end up with more. How many presenters, talking heads, commentators are now involved in football matches. It can be main presenter, 3 talking heads, then sideline presenter with 1-2 more talking heads, then main commentator and 2 more co-commentators and now the ref expert.....

    No money though. Can't afford Hard Talk, that one bloke in a simple studio with couple of cameras.

    Strictly superfan here.

    The rumours are that JoJo will also be working on It Takes Two so it’s part of that as that show is changing formats too as well as losing its hosts.
    The thing is you don't actually have much option with the other hosts.

    Live TV hosting is why more complex than people think it is so you are left choosing from a few safe pairs of hands, many of whom won't want it.
    Claudia's job equally requires someone who can turn on a six pence calm someone down and add a quick joke to change the tone. The original plan seems to have been Chris Ramsey but he didn't want it and is touring then anyway.
    Yes and no. This is the same argument the BBC deploys for why it pays its 'talent' so much. Genuinely there are thousands of people who could do this, its not limited to people that the public already knows. The decision making is that the public want familiarity with Lineker rather than a brilliant but unknown presenter for a 1/10 the price.
    You are spending £xm on a TV show, you don't give it to someone the public may hate as soon as they see them...
    Thank God they pay top dollar to the likes of Paddy McGuinness then !

    That’s the problem with the BBC, it essentially competes with commercial entities with a guaranteed revenue stream. Time to ditch the license fee and let them compete for their money for the commercial style channels and fund a basic public service from a license fee as well as other stuff like transmission.

    So, no more Doctor Who free on iPlayer?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 50,675
    edited May 19
    eek said:

    kinabalu said:


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
    You have to wonder wtf a right wing account posted on X that resulted in their account being banned - given what other right wing accounts post without an issue...
    I know! Unless maybe he posted something woke or critical of the mighty but sensitive Musk. Which could be worse for him with Reform voters.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093
    dixiedean said:

    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/2056745149653270942

    If I told you our canvassing returns in Makerfield, nobody would believe me. They are that good.

    Something is happening out there.

    Who is conducting these given they only announced a candidate yesterday?
    Indeed, colour me sceptical.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093

    Taz said:

    eek said:

    eek said:

    TV presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe have been announced as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgep5ez80rzo

    Why does it always seem that when replacing presenters we always end up with more. How many presenters, talking heads, commentators are now involved in football matches. It can be main presenter, 3 talking heads, then sideline presenter with 1-2 more talking heads, then main commentator and 2 more co-commentators and now the ref expert.....

    No money though. Can't afford Hard Talk, that one bloke in a simple studio with couple of cameras.

    Strictly superfan here.

    The rumours are that JoJo will also be working on It Takes Two so it’s part of that as that show is changing formats too as well as losing its hosts.
    The thing is you don't actually have much option with the other hosts.

    Live TV hosting is why more complex than people think it is so you are left choosing from a few safe pairs of hands, many of whom won't want it.
    Claudia's job equally requires someone who can turn on a six pence calm someone down and add a quick joke to change the tone. The original plan seems to have been Chris Ramsey but he didn't want it and is touring then anyway.
    Yes and no. This is the same argument the BBC deploys for why it pays its 'talent' so much. Genuinely there are thousands of people who could do this, its not limited to people that the public already knows. The decision making is that the public want familiarity with Lineker rather than a brilliant but unknown presenter for a 1/10 the price.
    You are spending £xm on a TV show, you don't give it to someone the public may hate as soon as they see them...
    Thank God they pay top dollar to the likes of Paddy McGuinness then !

    That’s the problem with the BBC, it essentially competes with commercial entities with a guaranteed revenue stream. Time to ditch the license fee and let them compete for their money for the commercial style channels and fund a basic public service from a license fee as well as other stuff like transmission.

    So, no more Doctor Who free on iPlayer?
    Got them all already. The good stuff. Not the Gatwa stuff. Including recons, cartoon and the Levine AI stuff.

    Charge for the Iplayer and I’d probably pay for it.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 61,676
    MaxPB said:



    Every credible source I can find is estimating late June to mid July before the effects hit Europe seriously. A lot of countries, including the US, have been bleeding their strategic oil reserves to make up for the Hormuz shortfall, but those reserves are going to bottom out in a month or two.

    How bad it will be is open to question. Anything from £4/litre petrol to "here's your weekly 10l fuel ration" seems possible. We don't really understand how fuel demand destruction on this scale will actually play out.

    I guess as a rough guide you'd expect the hardest hit countries with the most demand destruction to be those that tax fuel the least or, even worse, subsidise it. It's these countries that will suffer the highest percentage rise in fuel costs, and they tend to be the poorer ones. There are already reports of large fuel (and fertiliser) protests in some African countries.
    Yes, it's possible Europe can buy its way out of the worst effects at the expense of poorer countries. But that's still going to mean painfully high petrol and diesel prices. Imagine having to pay £400 to fill up the tank of a large car.

    I think there's likely to be alternative supply routes and pipeline capacity constructed before we get anywhere near that stage.
    UAE are building another pipeline, announced last week - but I’ve been driving past the site for a few weeks now, it’s well underway and started before the current kickoff.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093
    kinabalu said:

    eek said:

    kinabalu said:


    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2056737844836663416

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    Told there may be some other issues surrounding Robert Kenyon that might raise serious questions about Reform’s vetting processes.

    Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?
    https://x.com/CCHQPress/status/2056721730232603050?s=20
    Unless there's something truly damning then trying to cancel him for something he said on social media will backfire.
    It will probably be something truly damning.
    You have to wonder wtf a right wing account posted on X that resulted in their account being banned - given what other right wing accounts post without an issue...
    I know! Unless maybe he posted something woke or critical of the mighty but sensitive Musk. Which could be worse for him with Reform voters.
    I once had my twitter account suspended. For referring to Gianfranco Zola as the ‘c’ word after Blues lost to Burton Albion at home and they scored six goals.

    That incompetent clown (manager only he was a great soccer player) was our manager.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 23,177

    Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz will miss this year's Wimbledon because of an ongoing wrist injury.

    Put everything you can spare on Sinner. Do it now.
  • DoctorGDoctorG Posts: 763

    Labour confirms Burnham to be its Makerfield byelection candidate, after NEC declines to shortlist anyone else

    Harriet Harman will be livid about them having an all-male shortlist.
    Harperson?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 23,177
    Sandpit said:

    MaxPB said:



    Every credible source I can find is estimating late June to mid July before the effects hit Europe seriously. A lot of countries, including the US, have been bleeding their strategic oil reserves to make up for the Hormuz shortfall, but those reserves are going to bottom out in a month or two.

    How bad it will be is open to question. Anything from £4/litre petrol to "here's your weekly 10l fuel ration" seems possible. We don't really understand how fuel demand destruction on this scale will actually play out.

    I guess as a rough guide you'd expect the hardest hit countries with the most demand destruction to be those that tax fuel the least or, even worse, subsidise it. It's these countries that will suffer the highest percentage rise in fuel costs, and they tend to be the poorer ones. There are already reports of large fuel (and fertiliser) protests in some African countries.
    Yes, it's possible Europe can buy its way out of the worst effects at the expense of poorer countries. But that's still going to mean painfully high petrol and diesel prices. Imagine having to pay £400 to fill up the tank of a large car.

    I think there's likely to be alternative supply routes and pipeline capacity constructed before we get anywhere near that stage.
    UAE are building another pipeline, announced last week - but I’ve been driving past the site for a few weeks now, it’s well underway and started before the current kickoff.
    Blocking the Strait of Hormuz is a one-off play, isn't it. Like when the Italians declined to contest the breakdown against England so there was no offside and they could stroll round and disrupt.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 8,082
    Sandpit said:

    MaxPB said:



    Every credible source I can find is estimating late June to mid July before the effects hit Europe seriously. A lot of countries, including the US, have been bleeding their strategic oil reserves to make up for the Hormuz shortfall, but those reserves are going to bottom out in a month or two.

    How bad it will be is open to question. Anything from £4/litre petrol to "here's your weekly 10l fuel ration" seems possible. We don't really understand how fuel demand destruction on this scale will actually play out.

    I guess as a rough guide you'd expect the hardest hit countries with the most demand destruction to be those that tax fuel the least or, even worse, subsidise it. It's these countries that will suffer the highest percentage rise in fuel costs, and they tend to be the poorer ones. There are already reports of large fuel (and fertiliser) protests in some African countries.
    Yes, it's possible Europe can buy its way out of the worst effects at the expense of poorer countries. But that's still going to mean painfully high petrol and diesel prices. Imagine having to pay £400 to fill up the tank of a large car.

    I think there's likely to be alternative supply routes and pipeline capacity constructed before we get anywhere near that stage.
    UAE are building another pipeline, announced last week - but I’ve been driving past the site for a few weeks now, it’s well underway and started before the current kickoff.
    I hope it’s not delayed to build a bat tunnel.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,093

    Sandpit said:

    MaxPB said:



    Every credible source I can find is estimating late June to mid July before the effects hit Europe seriously. A lot of countries, including the US, have been bleeding their strategic oil reserves to make up for the Hormuz shortfall, but those reserves are going to bottom out in a month or two.

    How bad it will be is open to question. Anything from £4/litre petrol to "here's your weekly 10l fuel ration" seems possible. We don't really understand how fuel demand destruction on this scale will actually play out.

    I guess as a rough guide you'd expect the hardest hit countries with the most demand destruction to be those that tax fuel the least or, even worse, subsidise it. It's these countries that will suffer the highest percentage rise in fuel costs, and they tend to be the poorer ones. There are already reports of large fuel (and fertiliser) protests in some African countries.
    Yes, it's possible Europe can buy its way out of the worst effects at the expense of poorer countries. But that's still going to mean painfully high petrol and diesel prices. Imagine having to pay £400 to fill up the tank of a large car.

    I think there's likely to be alternative supply routes and pipeline capacity constructed before we get anywhere near that stage.
    UAE are building another pipeline, announced last week - but I’ve been driving past the site for a few weeks now, it’s well underway and started before the current kickoff.
    Blocking the Strait of Hormuz is a one-off play, isn't it. Like when the Italians declined to contest the breakdown against England so there was no offside and they could stroll round and disrupt.
    It’s tactically smart but strategically a disaster for them

    UAE is already looking to increase output in its pipeline throug Fujeirah by 2027

    Mind you that will probably be bombed by Iran in retaliation once that idiot Trump restarts the war.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 36,334
    viewcode said:

    https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/2056745149653270942

    If I told you our canvassing returns in Makerfield, nobody would believe me. They are that good.

    Something is happening out there.

    "Oh, I thought you said 'Reform'. Who are 'Restore'?"
    Or some combination of that (confusing party names) and inexperienced canvassers who mistake politeness for enthusiasm.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 61,676

    The Telegraph can reveal that this platform is how China’s security apparatus can track foreigners and anyone deemed “of interest” to the state within the country.

    Foreign students, foreign spouses of Chinese citizens and even foreign journalists, including The Telegraph’s, were included in the sensitive data points as part of the “Dynamic Control Platform for Foreigners” programme.

    The data allow the state to instantly track where American, British and other foreign citizens are located within China, who they come into contact with, their past movements and who they regularly associate with.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/19/leaked-secret-chinese-surveillance-programme-tracks-foreign/

    The conspicuously-placed bin at the stairs of Air Force One last week, was rather amusing.

    We know you’re spying on us, you know that we know you’re spying on us…
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 66,572

    DavidL said:

    Foss said:

    ydoethur said:

    Cookie said:

    Morning all. Off thread but I'm feeling distinctly irritable. My daughter has her English Literature GCSE today and she's been rattling through it. Apparently English Literature is essentially a GCSE in woke: you have to split society up into bits and say who the goodies are (ethnic minorities and to a lesser extent the working classes) and who the baddies are (the patriarchy, white people, the bourgeoisie, the British.) This is a compulsory GCSE nowadays. Because some writer of fiction said so. How the fuck did we get here? I'm sure no other countries practice self-hatred to quite this degree.

    That's always been a compulsory GCSE.

    And the content of the current one was written by Michael Gove personally. Having taught it, it's anything but as described. So if you think it is woke, either you have seriously misunderstood it or your daughter's teachers have found a remarkable way to manipulate it.
    As it happens, my younger daughter is doing GCSE English at the moment.

    What board is this? Her essay on Mice and Men (for example) included none of this, and she got a very high grade on the coursework element.
    A former boss held the opinion the Steinbeck was the best thing ever but, after doing Of Mice and Men at school, I can never bring myself to even try anything else he wrote.
    I had the same problem with Keats.
    Fuck me, I love Keats.
    Your chat up lines need a bit of work.
    It's from Bridget Jones.
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