I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
The United Kingdom on May 19 quietly issued a new license for imports in diesel and jet fuel made from sanctioned Russian oil, as as well as a separate license for the maritime transport of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The first license permits imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil if "the products have been processed in a third country," according to the U.K. government web portal. These products are exempted from the U.K.'s general ban on Russian oil products processed in other countries.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
Great effort by Bournemouth considering their "natural" place in the pyramid should be about halfway up league 1
Todays result shows that isn't true. Not unless you think Man City belong there too.
They've got a sub 12,000 seater stadium !
Man City's "natural" position is a middling Prem club imv
The population of the Bournemouth Christchurch Poole conurbation is over 400,000 - plenty big enough to support a 'big' club. The stadiums an issue though. Plan are in to increase it to 20,000 but still way too small for a big club.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
The United Kingdom on May 19 quietly issued a new license for imports in diesel and jet fuel made from sanctioned Russian oil, as as well as a separate license for the maritime transport of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The first license permits imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil if "the products have been processed in a third country," according to the U.K. government web portal. These products are exempted from the U.K.'s general ban on Russian oil products processed in other countries.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
re Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman under threat in today's Primary; while he might be an enemy of the Orange Golgothan, he does seem a complete arsehole, judging by his voting record. I won't shed any tears if he gets voted out.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
People who make sweeping pronouncements about what the future holds are fools?
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
People who make sweeping pronouncements about what the future holds are fools?
I'm different. I have a track record of quite astounding EXTRAPOLATIONS
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
People who make sweeping pronouncements about what the future holds are fools?
I'm different. I have a track record of quite astounding EXTRAPOLATIONS
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
People who make sweeping pronouncements about what the future holds are fools?
I'm different. I have a track record of quite astounding EXTRAPOLATIONS
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
A guy jokingly tweeted “olaf scholz you bastard what the hell is this” in frustration because Fortnite was stuck at 3% download. As a result, German authorities investigated him for committing a criminal offence (insulting a politician, §188 StGB) and forced him to delete it.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Reform candidate doesn’t like privately educated career politicians parachuted into constituencies.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
Thinking about it, broadband is in a good place in the UK. EE, Sky and a few others compete on the Openreach Network. City Fibre network and their providers competes with the Openreach providers, Virgin has done it's own thing for ages. Mobile here works OK though long term the 3/EE merger probably isn't great news for the consumer.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
I am 64 (although not yet losing my hair), not too far off my pension now and I think the triple lock is ridiculous and needs to stop. Pensioners are a very mixed group. Some are genuinely poor but many, more certainly, are very comfortable indeed. In spending our limited resources on those that are comfortable we leave less for those that are not and unfairly increase the burden on those paying for it.
Personally, I would go much further. Those whose pensions are, say, 2x average incomes (not completely fixed on what the limit should be), should not get the State pension at all. It needs to be means tested, albeit on a generous scale to stop discouraging those who might lose out from saving for a pension.
Our State commitments are simply unaffordable. We need to find a lot of different ways of cutting the obligations so that they fall in line with the taxes we are willing to pay. This, in my view, is where we start.
I mean, the trouble is the private sector cost of replicating an inflation-linked full state pension for a married couple is in the order of £450k (according to Gemini calculation that looks plausible).
That is a huge cliff edge to means test. Especially as any fair means test would need to look at total wealth not just pension or other income.
I think the state pension forms part of our social contract and shouldn't be means tested. Better to reduce it and add a means tested top-up benefits for those who need it.
It doesn't have to be an absolute cliff edge. You could have a taper. But your figure shows the absurdity of the present position. Most people are given a pension at 67 or whatever which is worth far more than they have paid into the system in their entire working life.
Bear in mind though there’s a light that’s the oncoming train and not the end of the tunnel coming down the track, in that the 2004 Pension Act ( with a nod to overly optimistic life expectancy calculations) effectively led to the complete destruction of private sector defined benefit pension schemes for all but existing members, all of whom are now approaching the end of working life. The replacement defined contribution schemes are widely spread, which is great, but largely woefully underfunded. Hence I suspect we’re kind of at “peak pension” and increasingly people will be dropping off the workforce conveyor belt from the private sector with varying degrees of “nowhere near enough” tucked away.
I am 64 (although not yet losing my hair), not too far off my pension now and I think the triple lock is ridiculous and needs to stop. Pensioners are a very mixed group. Some are genuinely poor but many, more certainly, are very comfortable indeed. In spending our limited resources on those that are comfortable we leave less for those that are not and unfairly increase the burden on those paying for it.
Personally, I would go much further. Those whose pensions are, say, 2x average incomes (not completely fixed on what the limit should be), should not get the State pension at all. It needs to be means tested, albeit on a generous scale to stop discouraging those who might lose out from saving for a pension.
Our State commitments are simply unaffordable. We need to find a lot of different ways of cutting the obligations so that they fall in line with the taxes we are willing to pay. This, in my view, is where we start.
I mean, the trouble is the private sector cost of replicating an inflation-linked full state pension for a married couple is in the order of £450k (according to Gemini calculation that looks plausible).
That is a huge cliff edge to means test. Especially as any fair means test would need to look at total wealth not just pension or other income.
I think the state pension forms part of our social contract and shouldn't be means tested. Better to reduce it and add a means tested top-up benefits for those who need it.
It doesn't have to be an absolute cliff edge. You could have a taper. But your figure shows the absurdity of the present position. Most people are given a pension at 67 or whatever which is worth far more than they have paid into the system in their entire working life.
Bear in mind though there’s a light that’s the oncoming train and not the end of the tunnel coming down the track, in that the 2004 Pension Act ( with a nod to overly optimistic life expectancy calculations) effectively led to the complete destruction of private sector defined benefit pension schemes for all but existing members, all of whom are now approaching the end of working life. The replacement defined contribution schemes are widely spread, which is great, but largely woefully underfunded. Hence I suspect we’re kind of at “peak pension” and increasingly people will be dropping off the workforce conveyor belt from the private sector with varying degrees of “nowhere near enough” tucked away.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
Still much more to do both broadband and 5G.
Singapore I don't think my connection ever dropped below 300 Mb/s where ever I was. China was not quite that, but not far off.
Will King Andy be geting rid of Rachel from Accounts? If so, who gets the gig?
Miliband is the rumour, God help us
If Burnham is clever, he should give it to Wes. Unite the party
Problem with Wes is now Europe - he should have kept quiet
I don't think that's the problem. Most people in Labour have that view. The problem is more that they'd find it hard to work together. I think Burnham would prefer a CoE who isn't so ambitious for the top job. Eg Miliband or McFadden.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
I was there last year and it did feel rather like stepping back in time. We can over egg it slightly, its not like there is no internet etc, but it certainly doesn't feel like it is the forefront in the mind where all the businesses realise that you have to have strong online presence and that to maximise business you want everybody be able to access high quality internet. It is more it something that you just use for certain tasks, a bit of a feeling of 15 years ago here e,g, my mate was saying Sunday night, everybody tries to watch Netflix so lots of buffering.
Where as you go to Asia and mobile phone / 5G is just how everything runs. 1000s of people in a tin can deep underground on the metro watching crystal clear streaming video.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
A market Walmart ran away from because they couldn’t compete with Tesco does rather tell you how insane the idea is.
If basic items are expensive then that’s because prices have risen not because Tesco and co are profiteering
The average person in the street, and seemingly the Treasury, thinks that Tesco is ripping us off. In reality they only have a 2% or so profit margin, and are one of the best run businesses in the UK. Tesco make a lot of money because they are massive and efficient. Groceries in the UK is one of our most competitive business sectors.
Which should be wishing that all business sectors were similary run.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
Thinking about it, broadband is in a good place in the UK. EE, Sky and a few others compete on the Openreach Network. City Fibre network and their providers competes with the Openreach providers, Virgin has done it's own thing for ages. Mobile here works OK though long term the 3/EE merger probably isn't great news for the consumer.
Virgin’s modern fttp network is actually quite reasonable.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
I was there last year and it did feel rather like stepping back in time. We can over egg it slightly, its not like there is no internet etc, but it certainly doesn't feel like it is the forefront in the mind where all the businesses realise that you have to have strong online presence and that to maximise business you want everybody be able to access high quality internet. It is more it something that you just use for certain tasks, a bit of a feeling of 15 years ago here.
Where as you go to Asia and mobile phone / 5G is just how everything runs.
On the other hand. Folk weren't all glued to their phones in cafes. So. Swings und roundabouts.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
People who make sweeping pronouncements about what the future holds are fools?
I'm different. I have a track record of quite astounding EXTRAPOLATIONS
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
Really? I was in Hamburg three years ago and everywhere had free WiFi and contactless payment.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
Thinking about it, broadband is in a good place in the UK. EE, Sky and a few others compete on the Openreach Network. City Fibre network and their providers competes with the Openreach providers, Virgin has done it's own thing for ages. Mobile here works OK though long term the 3/EE merger probably isn't great news for the consumer.
Not just the original crime, caused by a stupid and unlawful policy, but the total lack of any safeguarding and breach of the hospital's professional duties, the deliberate obstruction of the police and the resulting harm caused to an innocent mentally ill man charged with a crime he could not possibly have committed.
And who is going to be held accountable for this shitshow?
Answers on the back of the smallest postage stamp you have available.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
I was there last year and it did feel rather like stepping back in time. We can over egg it slightly, its not like there is no internet etc, but it certainly doesn't feel like it is the forefront in the mind where all the businesses realise that you have to have strong online presence and that to maximise business you want everybody be able to access high quality internet. It is more it something that you just use for certain tasks, a bit of a feeling of 15 years ago here e,g, my mate was saying Sunday night, everybody tries to watch Netflix so lots of buffering.
Where as you go to Asia and mobile phone / 5G is just how everything runs. 1000s of people in a tin can deep underground on the metro watching crystal clear streaming video.
Isn’t it great to be tracked everywhere, never escaping your curated media bubble.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
It’s late stage freebie culture. Quite a few people on PB and elsewhere have been flagging this as a major issue that is going to bite us hard - it usually manifests as rent controls and pensioner benefits, this is just a variation.
The latest wheeze is cutting fuel duty (a flat duty) during a catastrophic fossil fuel crisis. Absolutely mental; ineffective, costly, with perverse incentives built in.
COVID was where it all started to go horribly wrong. Shutting down the whole economy isn’t free (even if it’s the right thing to do) - not having the economic honesty to hike taxes to pay for it (particularly the minted house dwelling WFH/pensioners) was ridiculous.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
There are some quite big regional variations, but medium speed 60 Mb. Still highly reliant on ADSL. The UK is now 200+ after the big push to get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
I was there last year and it did feel rather like stepping back in time. We can over egg it slightly, its not like there is no internet etc, but it certainly doesn't feel like it is the forefront in the mind where all the businesses realise that you have to have strong online presence and that to maximise business you want everybody be able to access high quality internet. It is more it something that you just use for certain tasks, a bit of a feeling of 15 years ago here e,g, my mate was saying Sunday night, everybody tries to watch Netflix so lots of buffering.
Where as you go to Asia and mobile phone / 5G is just how everything runs. 1000s of people in a tin can deep underground on the metro watching crystal clear streaming video.
Isn’t it great to be tracked everywhere, never escaping your curated media bubble.
Er, no.
Germans have had enough of that.
Its not they had enough of it, they got it in the first place.
The issue as I have linked below is business, in Germany even a 100Mb connection for business is far from a given.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
Really? I was in Hamburg three years ago and everywhere had free WiFi and contactless payment.
Maybe it's a regional thing? I dunno. Wasn't in Heidelberg.
Everyone's getting a bit ahead of themselves re Burnham winning. My aged Ma opines (our woman on the spot)
"It's a bit of a brave gamble as it will be no pushover. But he's really, really popular round here. I hope he wins but it isn't certain."
What exactly is he gambling?
He didn't choose Makerfield as his first choice - he wanted an easier ride, but after ringing round most of the Lab MPs in the NW, only one seems to have been prepared to fall on his sword for brave Sir Andy. Once he had a willing MP he had no choice but to fight that seat - someone would have leaked it even if he'd declined privately, and he would have looked frit, which would do his image no good at all.
If he loses bigly, he'll be a laughing stock, but no more than he was for having trapped himself out of parliament whilst wanting to be PM. He's very unlikely to lose by a massive margin anyway.
If he loses by a narrow margin, he will still be massively outperforming his party's national polling, and he can be the brave underdog who nearly vanquished the dark powers of Farage himself, only to be thwarted by the evil twin forces of Brexit and Wes Streeting (or some such bollocks).
Either way, the worst case is that he goes back to city hall and sees out his term just like he would have done had Starmer not spent the last two years turning everything he touched to ashes.
Obviously, if he wins, he gets to be carried shoulder high by the party faithful straight to a triumphant coronation at Downing Street, followed by a 1000 year glorious reign of power*.
He's basically been given a free bet at about evens. If he wins, he becomes PM. If he loses, nothing changes. That's hardly courageous. I'd probably take that bet too, and I'm not even sure I'd want to be Prime Minister.
*or more probably, in 18 months time he's about as popular as SKS, and he loses the next election to one Nigel Farage - but this is all very much a future Andy problem.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
Germany had very strong FTTP provision, so I am not sure you’re right overall. I believe the UK has now overtaken it.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
Germany had very strong FTTP provision, so I am not sure you’re right overall. I believe the UK has now overtaken it.
Not just the original crime, caused by a stupid and unlawful policy, but the total lack of any safeguarding and breach of the hospital's professional duties, the deliberate obstruction of the police and the resulting harm caused to an innocent mentally ill man charged with a crime he could not possibly have committed.
And who is going to be held accountable for this shitshow?
Answers on the back of the smallest postage stamp you have available.
Why aren't lots of people at the hospital being prosecuted for obstruction of justice? It's quite extraordinary the way they acted.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
The one thing I give the Tory government credit for is promoting widespread fast internet access.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
Thinking about it, broadband is in a good place in the UK. EE, Sky and a few others compete on the Openreach Network. City Fibre network and their providers competes with the Openreach providers, Virgin has done it's own thing for ages. Mobile here works OK though long term the 3/EE merger probably isn't great news for the consumer.
5G is still too flaky in many places.
My colleague raves about his 5G internet through 3, I'm a 100m radius 5G blackspot though I guess 3/EE merging will see the price hiked.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Reform candidate doesn’t like privately educated career politicians parachuted into constituencies.
Not a big fan of Farage then.
Yes the plumber video does have a good vibe, but it is totally policy free - for me awkwardly so. Burnham’s is pretty lightweight but it does have a bit of policy. Ironically, because he is aiming to inspire people as the new PM, he sort of has the freedom to riff a bit on his politics. The plumber (need to learn his name) has said nothing, perhaps because apart from Immigration, Reform seem to have become the inheritors of the Ming vase.
I want Reform to eviscerate Labour in the next election, but I am not blind to their flaws.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
There are some quite big regional variations, but medium speed 60 Mb. Still highly reliant on ADSL. The UK is now 200+ after the big push to get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
It’s late stage freebie culture. Quite a few people on PB and elsewhere have been flagging this as a major issue that is going to bite us hard - it usually manifests as rent controls and pensioner benefits, this is just a variation.
The latest wheeze is cutting fuel duty (a flat duty) during a catastrophic fossil fuel crisis. Absolutely mental; ineffective, costly, with perverse incentives built in.
COVID was where it all started to go horribly wrong. Shutting down the whole economy isn’t free (even if it’s the right thing to do) - not having the economic honesty to hike taxes to pay for it (particularly the minted house dwelling WFH/pensioners) was ridiculous.
It was going wrong long before Covid. Witness the omnishambles response to budget measures proposing minor changes to what food stuffs would have VAT levied on them. Or you can go further back to the hysterical reaction to the small pension increase which was a result of low inflation back when the state pension was being uprated by inflation alone.
But, yes, there's an air of unreality that somehow the government is going to absorb the entirety of the cost of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, because that's the sort of thing that government does now, and it's fine that the country is borrowing north of £100bn a year in a good year, because the fiscal rules are met.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
There are some quite big regional variations, but medium speed 60 Mb. Still highly reliant on ADSL. The UK is now 200+ after the big push to get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.
I am sure this has been discussed but Reform have gone for the local plumber angle. Not a particular surprise as he seemed the standout candidate.
Another 'I'm a local' video. Quite good but without the political depth (and music licensing spend) of Burnham's effort. Being "a local" is not in and of itself of benefit to the nation.
Burnham video 8.5 Plumber video 7.0
However, he does seem articulate and to have potential to be an asset to Reform if he gets it.
I reckon his video is slightly better than Burnham's. Has a clever gritty local lad vibe, even if Burnham's is more polished
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Reform candidate doesn’t like privately educated career politicians parachuted into constituencies.
Not a big fan of Farage then.
Yes the plumber video does have a good vibe, but it is totally policy free - for me awkwardly so. Burnham’s is pretty lightweight but it does have a bit of policy. Ironically, because he is aiming to inspire people as the new PM, he sort of has the freedom to riff a bit on his politics. The plumber (need to learn his name) has said nothing, perhaps because apart from Immigration, Reform seem to have become the inheritors of the Ming vase.
I want Reform to eviscerate Labour in the next election, but I am not blind to their flaws.
One thing that struck me was complaining about Labour politicians going to private school and sending their kids there. Which is very true. But that, surely, just highlights that Burnham did neither of those things, despite having the money to do so, doesn't it? It has to be more than immigrants and Labour are crap. Particularly as everyone knows your main opponent is running on half of that agenda.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
It’s late stage freebie culture. Quite a few people on PB and elsewhere have been flagging this as a major issue that is going to bite us hard - it usually manifests as rent controls and pensioner benefits, this is just a variation.
The latest wheeze is cutting fuel duty (a flat duty) during a catastrophic fossil fuel crisis. Absolutely mental; ineffective, costly, with perverse incentives built in.
COVID was where it all started to go horribly wrong. Shutting down the whole economy isn’t free (even if it’s the right thing to do) - not having the economic honesty to hike taxes to pay for it (particularly the minted house dwelling WFH/pensioners) was ridiculous.
Fuel duty thing, you only have half the picture.
Partly because it feeds into everything, so a raw material price increase feeds inflation very hard, and also because we put VAT on fuel as well as duty, so the chancellor gets a VAT bonanza whenever the prices goes mental. The 5p/l that's come off diesel via the duty cut that the Tories did which Labour are almost inevitably going to have to extend is currently being rather more than offset the ~9.6p/l increase in the VAT takings.
There's also a bit of a problem that fuel taxation is increasingly regressive, because if you're well off with a driveway, you can afford to buy an EV you can run for virtually nothing, whlist if you're poor* you are probably running a 15 year old ICE. The difference in running costs is almost entirely a tax arbitrage of course - if we taxed electricity at the same rate as we tax diesel per KWh, it would be cheaper to drive a diesel car for most people.
*I'm aware that the very poorest tend not to have cars at-all, but that just makes then irrelevant to this point. Burdening the fairly poor with taxes the well-to-do don't have to pay is still horribly regressive.
Ouch. China eating their Currywurst? It does back up what my German mate was saying to me. He is recently on the job market, highly qualified and finding it hard to get something.
Channel 4 have arguably been skating on thin ice with regard to reality programmes ever since they started doing them in the year 2000.
Didn't the original psychologist of Big Brother quit because after one of series where the housemates basically just got on with one another, he said they were deliebrately engineering scenarios to cause strife and drama because the producers said they couldn't have another "boring" series. And of course once you start down that route, every year has to been more dramatic than the last.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
There are some quite big regional variations, but medium speed 60 Mb. Still highly reliant on ADSL. The UK is now 200+ after the big push to get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.
One idly wonders how many fibre connections there would be if BT was still a nationalised company.
A dozen?
It would have been nationwide FTTP because that was their plan. They then sold the expertise to Korea when the plan was stopped for being “anti-competitive”.
A suspected shoplifter has died in Dublin after being restrained by security staff. This story was a bit complicated in its initial reporting, because a man in his 80s was also injured as the suspected shoplifter attempted to flee the scene, but video has now emerged which shows that the restraint tactics bear a certain resemblance to those used on George Floyd.
Channel 4 have arguably been skating on thin ice with regard to reality programmes ever since they started doing them in the year 2000.
Didn't the original psychologist of Big Brother quit because after one of series where the housemates basically just got on with one another, he said they were deliebrately engineering scenarios to cause strife and drama because the producers said they couldn't have another "boring" series. And of course once you start down that route, every year has to been more dramatic than the last.
I believe so. First series of Big Brother was genuinely great TV. But unrepeatable once everyone knew how to play it.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
Germany had very strong FTTP provision, so I am not sure you’re right overall. I believe the UK has now overtaken it.
Facts provided in post below...
That is only based on user speed tests which are dependant on users running the tests. So they may all just pay for lower speeds.
E.g. FTTP coverage in the UK would allow anyone to have 1Gb but the average is going to be way lower than that as few people will pay for over 100.
2025. By 2024, however, only 36.8% were covered – well below the EU average of 69.2% (Table 1). In contrast, 5G now reaches 99.1% of the population.
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
I am struck how backward technologically a lot of Germany in many respects. The internet speeds are absolute garbage in lots of places. My mate lives in a town with a major university, he has to pay some stupid amount to get "special" internet that is 50Mbs. That's it, thats the fastest speed that is available.
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
I haven't been for three years, but I was struck that virtually none of the businesses that wanted your money had free customer WiFi as standard.
About 3 years ago I did some consultancy for a global optician firm - some shopping malls in Germany still only had ISDN lines and I think a couple were worse than that.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
There are some quite big regional variations, but medium speed 60 Mb. Still highly reliant on ADSL. The UK is now 200+ after the big push to get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.
One idly wonders how many fibre connections there would be if BT was still a nationalised company.
A dozen?
It would have been nationwide FTTP because that was their plan. They then sold the expertise to Korea when the plan was stopped for being “anti-competitive”.
Just to expand on this, the government wanted competitiveness in the market so they wanted to encourage cable companies to compete with BT.
They were all amalgamated into what we now call Virgin Media (Liberty Global/O2) and I’d say the competitive aspect has been mixed at best.
There is limited evidence the companies truly compete on provision of the service, Openreach have a wide availability anyway as they have most access to the ducts (this was changed in law but the results have been poor) so have an easier time provisioning faster services.
Virgin Media O2 has barely increased their own footprint. Their JV has now been scaled back.
Altnets have provided some competition however many are slowly going bust.
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
It’s late stage freebie culture. Quite a few people on PB and elsewhere have been flagging this as a major issue that is going to bite us hard - it usually manifests as rent controls and pensioner benefits, this is just a variation.
The latest wheeze is cutting fuel duty (a flat duty) during a catastrophic fossil fuel crisis. Absolutely mental; ineffective, costly, with perverse incentives built in.
COVID was where it all started to go horribly wrong. Shutting down the whole economy isn’t free (even if it’s the right thing to do) - not having the economic honesty to hike taxes to pay for it (particularly the minted house dwelling WFH/pensioners) was ridiculous.
Fuel duty thing, you only have half the picture.
Partly because it feeds into everything, so a raw material price increase feeds inflation very hard, and also because we put VAT on fuel as well as duty, so the chancellor gets a VAT bonanza whenever the prices goes mental. The 5p/l that's come off diesel via the duty cut that the Tories did which Labour are almost inevitably going to have to extend is currently being rather more than offset the ~9.6p/l increase in the VAT takings.
There's also a bit of a problem that fuel taxation is increasingly regressive, because if you're well off with a driveway, you can afford to buy an EV you can run for virtually nothing, whlist if you're poor* you are probably running a 15 year old ICE. The difference in running costs is almost entirely a tax arbitrage of course - if we taxed electricity at the same rate as we tax diesel per KWh, it would be cheaper to drive a diesel car for most people.
*I'm aware that the very poorest tend not to have cars at-all, but that just makes then irrelevant to this point. Burdening the fairly poor with taxes the well-to-do don't have to pay is still horribly regressive.
Mileage also correlates with income. Those in the highest income deciles drive the most by a large margin even among those who own cars, and we’re a very long way from sufficient EV rollout for that to be inverted. It’s profoundly regressive because most of the gains go to the richest.
That’s a minor point compared to the absurdity of suppressing a price signal during a supply crisis. It’s downright dangerous given the chance of actually running out. And in the long run, constantly doing so during energy crises (as we did in 2022 with £50 billion in subsidy) cocoons consumers and businesses from reality. We should be encouraging people to move to EVs, to solar, to batteries - not the precise opposite,
To quote the Death of Stalin, I’m very fucking furious.
As usual YouGov ask the wrong, or at least an incomplete, question.
People usually want more money spent on them, until the costs are spelt out, which in a full public debate on the subject, presumably they would be. Public spending choices aren't about one thing in isolation, they're about making an acceptable use of limited (these days, very limited) resources.
The real question should be something like "Do you support keeping the triple lock even though welfare spending is taking up more and more of our national income, taxes are at a record high and throttling growth and the young are stuggling under more and more debt?"
Then we'd have an idea of where public opinion would be if and when the debate is ever fully joined.
Bizarre the focus on state pension when benefits are runaway rises, both monetary and people wise , they do not attract any tax and in general are far more generous than state pension. Hardly ever hear a peep about reducing benefits or slowing down the increases, in fact the opposite as it is constant whinging to give them more.
Channel 4 have arguably been skating on thin ice with regard to reality programmes ever since they started doing them in the year 2000.
Didn't the original psychologist of Big Brother quit because after one of series where the housemates basically just got on with one another, he said they were deliebrately engineering scenarios to cause strife and drama because the producers said they couldn't have another "boring" series. And of course once you start down that route, every year has to been more dramatic than the last.
Yes I seem to remember something like that. And of course there was the whole Jade Goody vs Shilpa Shetty drama on a Big Brother show around 2006.
Isn't a disappearing act his usual response to some negative press? It generally seems to have worked to date, but if they are serious about replacing the Tories the Leader cannot just go to ground whenever there's a bad news cycle.
Mileage also correlates with income. Those in the highest income deciles drive the most by a large margin even among those who own cars, and we’re a very long way from sufficient EV rollout for that to be inverted. Cutting it is profoundly regressive because most of the gains go to the richest.
That’s a minor point compared to the absurdity of suppressing a price signal during a supply crisis. It’s downright dangerous given the chance of actually running out. And in the long run, constantly doing so during energy crises (as we did in 2022 with £50 billion in subsidy) cocoons consumers and businesses from reality. We should be encouraging people to move to EVs, to solar, to batteries - not the precise opposite,
Among a number of candidates, it’s the policy that infuriates me the most.
Yes the enormous financial support* in 2022, which was probably unavoidable given how rapidly prices rose, has stopped many people changing their behaviour, which has now meant that the Iran War is hitting us harder than it might have if we'd paid a higher price when Russia invaded and changed our energy use sooner.
* It's amazing how many times I've heard people say that "the government did nothing for me" when it was something around £2,000 per household.
Channel 4 have arguably been skating on thin ice with regard to reality programmes ever since they started doing them in the year 2000.
Didn't the original psychologist of Big Brother quit because after one of series where the housemates basically just got on with one another, he said they were deliebrately engineering scenarios to cause strife and drama because the producers said they couldn't have another "boring" series. And of course once you start down that route, every year has to been more dramatic than the last.
It's odd- two of the reality-elimination formats that have lasted best- Strictly and Bake Off- are centred on people being nice to each other. Even The Traitors has a healthy cooperation-to-murdering ratio. Contrast that with The Apprentice, which has fallen into a self-parody of awful people who are mostly shown as being not much good.
Real life isn't just sequins, cakes and group hugs because it's a shame that someone has to leave. But it might be one of the reasons we're all convinced he world is going to pieces.
Isn't a disappearing act his usual response to some negative press? It generally seems to have worked to date, but if they are serious about replacing the Tories the Leader cannot just go to ground whenever there's a bad news cycle.
This question is more awkward than most for Nigel and won’t go away as it can be asked until we get a plausible answer
So Nigel, Given that your “I’m a celeb” money is still resting in your business account how did you buy that £1.4m home?
Lost for words. Never thought I’d see a British govt trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing. Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
A market Walmart ran away from because they couldn’t compete with Tesco does rather tell you how insane the idea is.
If basic items are expensive then that’s because prices have risen not because Tesco and co are profiteering
The average person in the street, and seemingly the Treasury, thinks that Tesco is ripping us off. In reality they only have a 2% or so profit margin, and are one of the best run businesses in the UK. Tesco make a lot of money because they are massive and efficient. Groceries in the UK is one of our most competitive business sectors.
Which should be wishing that all business sectors were similary run.
I understand, in general, the public not understanding the profit margins of major businesses, I'm as guilty of that as anyone. But I do find it odd that people would think supermarkets are so much more profitable than they are, as it has always felt like such a competitive and cut throat environment - people can and do switch supermarkets based on the best bargains, and everyone uses them and knows that on some level, so it is surprising we'd assume them to still be mega profitable rather than just profitable.
It's one of the few major business sectors where the average person should have some insight into how they cannot rip us off too much or they lose out to rivals fast.
Comments
They are both pretty good, by the DIRE standards of these things
It is a genunely difficult race to call. Reform have the national momentum, Burnham has the personal buzz. Labour are hated, but this is a chance to kick Starmer out
I am back at about evens. Those who claim Burnham has got it wrapped up already are fools
Thank you from the bottom of my heart . So hope they can get CL football next season .
OMFG we’ve done it at last . Still in shock !
The first license permits imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil if "the products have been processed in a third country," according to the U.K. government web portal. These products are exempted from the U.K.'s general ban on Russian oil products processed in other countries.
The license takes effect on May 20 for an indefinite period and may be revoked or suspended at any time.
https://kyivindependent.com/uk-quietly-issues-sanctions-waivers-on-russian-oil-products/
Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?
https://x.com/PJTheEconomist/status/2056821219609964718?s=20
If basic items are expensive then that’s because prices have risen not because Tesco and co are profiteering
Talking of Walmart, Bentonville where they are head quartered.
Inside Wealthy Arkansas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDVvcvSHfQ4
"I don’t think people understand what is going to happen to Germany in 10-15 years time: huge unemployment by deliberate economic suicide combined with millions of structurally unemployable welfare-entitled migrants will cause a total collapse of the welfare state and civil-war like circumstances."
https://x.com/Porkchop_EXP/status/2056764496169869444?s=20
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/uks-sunak-scraps-plan-supermarket-price-cap-after-backlash-telegraph-2023-06-14/
If Burnham is clever, he should give it to Wes. Unite the party
China is already starting to eat into their high end manufacturing. German Brand is still strong, but its not true now that China can't do super high end / super high quality manufacturing. The most obvious is the EV cars we don't get in the West, XPeng, YangWang.
(Mind you it does mean endless bloody roadworks round here.)
https://x.com/FlorianGallwitz/status/2056473889820049530
A guy jokingly tweeted “olaf scholz you bastard what the hell is this” in frustration because Fortnite was stuck at 3% download. As a result, German authorities investigated him for committing a criminal offence (insulting a politician, §188 StGB) and forced him to delete it.
Not a big fan of Farage then.
Mobile here works OK though long term the 3/EE merger probably isn't great news for the consumer.
Paul Mason
@paulmasonnews
Yes please - just to see the last remaining neoliberals see their world end
https://x.com/paulmasonnews/status/2056834622147731931
Singapore I don't think my connection ever dropped below 300 Mb/s where ever I was. China was not quite that, but not far off.
I understand that James Roscoe, deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Washington DC, has been removed.
Diplomats to be gathered tomorrow and given some kind of explanation - reasons a tightly-kept secret for now.
Where as you go to Asia and mobile phone / 5G is just how everything runs. 1000s of people in a tin can deep underground on the metro watching crystal clear streaming video.
Which should be wishing that all business sectors were similary run.
Folk weren't all glued to their phones in cafes.
So. Swings und roundabouts.
Not just the original crime, caused by a stupid and unlawful policy, but the total lack of any safeguarding and breach of the hospital's professional duties, the deliberate obstruction of the police and the resulting harm caused to an innocent mentally ill man charged with a crime he could not possibly have committed.
And who is going to be held accountable for this shitshow?
Answers on the back of the smallest postage stamp you have available.
Plan was to leave them to the end and hope the lease ran out so they could move somewhere sane
Er, no.
Germans have had enough of that.
The latest wheeze is cutting fuel duty (a flat duty) during a catastrophic fossil fuel crisis. Absolutely mental; ineffective, costly, with perverse incentives built in.
COVID was where it all started to go horribly wrong. Shutting down the whole economy isn’t free (even if it’s the right thing to do) - not having the economic honesty to hike taxes to pay for it (particularly the minted house dwelling WFH/pensioners) was ridiculous.
https://fairinternetreport.com/Germany
Businesses with high speed broadband: Germany below EU average
https://www.destatis.de/Europa/EN/Topic/Science-technology-digital-society/internet_high_speed.html
The issue as I have linked below is business, in Germany even a 100Mb connection for business is far from a given.
He didn't choose Makerfield as his first choice - he wanted an easier ride, but after ringing round most of the Lab MPs in the NW, only one seems to have been prepared to fall on his sword for brave Sir Andy. Once he had a willing MP he had no choice but to fight that seat - someone would have leaked it even if he'd declined privately, and he would have looked frit, which would do his image no good at all.
If he loses bigly, he'll be a laughing stock, but no more than he was for having trapped himself out of parliament whilst wanting to be PM. He's very unlikely to lose by a massive margin anyway.
If he loses by a narrow margin, he will still be massively outperforming his party's national polling, and he can be the brave underdog who nearly vanquished the dark powers of Farage himself, only to be thwarted by the evil twin forces of Brexit and Wes Streeting (or some such bollocks).
Either way, the worst case is that he goes back to city hall and sees out his term just like he would have done had Starmer not spent the last two years turning everything he touched to ashes.
Obviously, if he wins, he gets to be carried shoulder high by the party faithful straight to a triumphant coronation at Downing Street, followed by a 1000 year glorious reign of power*.
He's basically been given a free bet at about evens. If he wins, he becomes PM. If he loses, nothing changes. That's hardly courageous. I'd probably take that bet too, and I'm not even sure I'd want to be Prime Minister.
*or more probably, in 18 months time he's about as popular as SKS, and he loses the next election to one Nigel Farage - but this is all very much a future Andy problem.
https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2056844815371751689?s=20
How does he manage to sound like he ChatGPT'ed something he actually cares about....
I want Reform to eviscerate Labour in the next election, but I am not blind to their flaws.
A dozen?
But, yes, there's an air of unreality that somehow the government is going to absorb the entirety of the cost of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, because that's the sort of thing that government does now, and it's fine that the country is borrowing north of £100bn a year in a good year, because the fiscal rules are met.
But that, surely, just highlights that Burnham did neither of those things, despite having the money to do so, doesn't it?
It has to be more than immigrants and Labour are crap. Particularly as everyone knows your main opponent is running on half of that agenda.
Partly because it feeds into everything, so a raw material price increase feeds inflation very hard, and also because we put VAT on fuel as well as duty, so the chancellor gets a VAT bonanza whenever the prices goes mental. The 5p/l that's come off diesel via the duty cut that the Tories did which Labour are almost inevitably going to have to extend is currently being rather more than offset the ~9.6p/l increase in the VAT takings.
There's also a bit of a problem that fuel taxation is increasingly regressive, because if you're well off with a driveway, you can afford to buy an EV you can run for virtually nothing, whlist if you're poor* you are probably running a 15 year old ICE. The difference in running costs is almost entirely a tax arbitrage of course - if we taxed electricity at the same rate as we tax diesel per KWh, it would be cheaper to drive a diesel car for most people.
*I'm aware that the very poorest tend not to have cars at-all, but that just makes then irrelevant to this point. Burdening the fairly poor with taxes the well-to-do don't have to pay is still horribly regressive.
BREAKING: UK waives some Russian oil sanctions, allowing imports of diesel and jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian crude
(most likely supply chain: imports of Indian refined products produced by processing Russian crude).
https://pmldaily.com/news/2026/04/counting-the-jobless-chinas-rising-unemployment-masks-a-broader-economic-strain.html
https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0519/1574115-yves-sakila-death/
First series of Big Brother was genuinely great TV. But unrepeatable once everyone knew how to play it.
E.g. FTTP coverage in the UK would allow anyone to have 1Gb but the average is going to be way lower than that as few people will pay for over 100.
2025. By 2024, however, only 36.8% were covered – well below the EU average of 69.2% (Table 1). In contrast, 5G now reaches 99.1% of the population.
https://www.business-sweden.com/insights/blogs/germany-a-new-era-for-investment/germany-accelerates-digital-expansion-as-of-12-september-2025/
I was wrong though, it is much lower than I thought.
UK is now running at 84.3% (this is based on what the postcode has technically available, not what the user paid for): https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/broadband-map#6/51.414/-0.641/.
UK has one of the fastest and most comprehensive FTTP rollouts of all time. Will easily surpass 90% and probably get up to 99% by 2035.
Thank goodness Openreach pulled their finger out and abandoned G.Fast.
They were all amalgamated into what we now call Virgin Media (Liberty Global/O2) and I’d say the competitive aspect has been mixed at best.
There is limited evidence the companies truly compete on provision of the service, Openreach have a wide availability anyway as they have most access to the ducts (this was changed in law but the results have been poor) so have an easier time provisioning faster services.
Virgin Media O2 has barely increased their own footprint. Their JV has now been scaled back.
Altnets have provided some competition however many are slowly going bust.
That’s a minor point compared to the absurdity of suppressing a price signal during a supply crisis. It’s downright dangerous given the chance of actually running out. And in the long run, constantly doing so during energy crises (as we did in 2022 with £50 billion in subsidy) cocoons consumers and businesses from reality. We should be encouraging people to move to EVs, to solar, to batteries - not the precise opposite,
To quote the Death of Stalin, I’m very fucking furious.
Has anybody seen Nigel? Speculation swirls as Farage performs disappearing act
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/19/nigel-farage-reform-uk-disappearance-politics
* It's amazing how many times I've heard people say that "the government did nothing for me" when it was something around £2,000 per household.
Real life isn't just sequins, cakes and group hugs because it's a shame that someone has to leave. But it might be one of the reasons we're all convinced he world is going to pieces.
So Nigel, Given that your “I’m a celeb” money is still resting in your business account how did you buy that £1.4m home?
It's one of the few major business sectors where the average person should have some insight into how they cannot rip us off too much or they lose out to rivals fast.