"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that giving an occasional helping hand up to historically marginalised groups helps undo existing injustices. But some white middle class heterosexual men are snowflakes and easily triggered when their familiar advantages are reduced in the slightest.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that discriminating against anyone is wrong.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
I think two wrongs don’t make a right. But you’re the one who favours ethnically cleansing Palestinians, so I kinda thought you were in the two wrongs DO make a right camp.
I am not in favour of it, I do think relocation might be the least worst option to end the cycle of violence.
I would love to see a better, sustainable, option but as long as Hamas exist and their like, and as long as they are supported by the likes of Iran, it does not seem limely.
As long as Netanyahu and his uber Zionist clique lives then Hamas are not the genocidal nutters but actually freedom fighters.
Netanyahu is the best recruitment agency Hamas and Hezbollah have ever had.
Without him and his ilk, Hamas and Hezbollah would be starved of necessity and relevance.
Palestine is a State and it belongs in defined borders on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stolen by Israel.
The best solution is to empty Gaza of Palestinians, and move them all to the West Bank, moving all the Israeli settlers out of the West Bank and back in to Israel and Gaza to house them.
That means Israel is a whole state without a dangerous enclave of Palestinians who hate them, and Palestine is a whole state without illegal Israeli settlements. It is fair and just - nobody gets everything they want, but everyone gets what they need.
Leaving aside several issues with this plan, I note that there are over twice as many Gazans as Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Which I think should be fine. Gazans would tend to live more densely than Israeli settlers. I'd be more concerned that the Israeli settlers would burn and raze it all to the ground rather than let Palestinians live there, which would be very probable, but it would still be worth it to solve the problem.
Any moral solution to Israel-Palestine issue needs to remember that both Palestinians and Israelis should have the same rights. Deportation of the Palestinians fails that test.
Personally I think it's immoral to let the situation continue in the way it is. Clearly the current map doesn't work. A five year old could look at it and see that.
The 'deported' Palestinians would be leaving a bombed out shithole to a Palestinian homeland free from Israeli control. I think they would jump at it, and rightly so.
As an aside, I think your solution is an excellent one, and I should have acknowledged that.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that giving an occasional helping hand up to historically marginalised groups helps undo existing injustices. But some white middle class heterosexual men are snowflakes and easily triggered when their familiar advantages are reduced in the slightest.
An entirely predictable and thought-free response that reflects the well-worn tropes, shibboleths and mantras of your class.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that giving an occasional helping hand up to historically marginalised groups helps undo existing injustices. But some white middle class heterosexual men are snowflakes and easily triggered when their familiar advantages are reduced in the slightest.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that discriminating against anyone is wrong.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
I think two wrongs don’t make a right. But you’re the one who favours ethnically cleansing Palestinians, so I kinda thought you were in the two wrongs DO make a right camp.
I am not in favour of it, I do think relocation might be the least worst option to end the cycle of violence.
I would love to see a better, sustainable, option but as long as Hamas exist and their like, and as long as they are supported by the likes of Iran, it does not seem limely.
As long as Netanyahu and his uber Zionist clique lives then Hamas are not the genocidal nutters but actually freedom fighters.
Netanyahu is the best recruitment agency Hamas and Hezbollah have ever had.
Without him and his ilk, Hamas and Hezbollah would be starved of necessity and relevance.
Palestine is a State and it belongs in defined borders on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stolen by Israel.
The best solution is to empty Gaza of Palestinians, and move them all to the West Bank, moving all the Israeli settlers out of the West Bank and back in to Israel and Gaza to house them.
That means Israel is a whole state without a dangerous enclave of Palestinians who hate them, and Palestine is a whole state without illegal Israeli settlements. It is fair and just - nobody gets everything they want, but everyone gets what they need.
Leaving aside several issues with this plan, I note that there are over twice as many Gazans as Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Which I think should be fine. Gazans would tend to live more densely than Israeli settlers. I'd be more concerned that the Israeli settlers would burn and raze it all to the ground rather than let Palestinians live there, which would be very probable, but it would still be worth it to solve the problem.
Any moral solution to Israel-Palestine issue needs to remember that both Palestinians and Israelis should have the same right. Simply removing the Palestinians, is clearly in breach of that.
The Palestinians are idiots. They have ruined their own country.
To be fair not all of them are.
Their leadership are though.
Every last one of them should be ashamed as to where they have collectively taken themselves.
(It's sort of a view I've taken that I will criticise the people and the nation for their sins)
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
Indeed it does and the ‘I’m rubbing your nose in it’ element because they’re full of loathing of these communities is rather distasteful too.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
Quite. We could well see a Con/Lab/LD coalition simply to head off the nutters.
Unfortunately none of the three are really improving forces, and the clown shows are increasingly good at deceit.
Bangladesh's is already well below replacement, I believe.
Many sub Saharan African nations still have rates well above replacement but have markedly declined too.
I can see a time in the future where nations compete for migrants.
Some but while fertility rates falling to replacement level of 2.1 reduces pressures on the environment and services etc, falling below replacement rate is a disaster and leads to an ageing population younger people have to work longer and pay more tax to support.
Religion is also still a big factor, we are heading for a more Muslim world unless Christians, Hindus and Jews and atheists and Buddhists in particular have more children.
Fertility rate by religion globally is Muslims 3.1, Christians 2.7, Hindus 2.4, Jews 2.4, Religiously unaffiliated 1.7, Buddhists 1.6
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Although the key point was not exactly that he was fully exonerated, but rather the evidence of DNA from somebody other than him cast doubts on his guilt which should have been enough to overturn his conviction.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
One of the things I am wondering (I recognise it is a tangential point to this), is if Nigel's high profile intervention on the Nowak arrest/murder will affect the outcome of the Makerfield byelection. One must assume that there is very little downside risk (not many sensitive Tories in the Reform camp likely to be pushed to Burnham), and a fairly significant potential upside in bringing over Restorers and even disgusted Labour voters.
This journalist agrees, though as yet we have no evidence of how voters in the constituency are reacting to the case.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I don't agree with discrimination of any description, positive or negative. The narrative of white, heterosexual men being disadvantaged by positive discrimination remains largely untrue in my opinion. Doubtless you could find me one or two examples, but by and large I would rather take my chances with figures of authority as a white, heterosexual male than I would anyone else.
But this is about individuals. It is active discrimination against a set of individuals based on the colour of their skin, their gender and their sexuality. So yes, those white heterosexual males are bring disadvantaged. In any other examples of race or sexuality this would be illegal.
But the likes of Farage are selling a narrative that in general white men are being disadvantaged to the benefit of non white men. Clearly on ocassion it happens. I would argue it happened to Henry Nowak. That shouldn't have been the case. I would hope that the error was not the system but the individual policeman. Of course I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
Honestly I don't really care what Farage thinks. I do care that everyone is treated on the same basis. That clearly isn't happening at present and I fear there is an institutional systemic reason.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You do. Unless you are poor enough to get legal aid. One MP who was prosecuted for alleged sexual offences and found not guilty said after that the case had wiped out his savings.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
Quite. We could well see a Con/Lab/LD coalition simply to head off the nutters.
Unfortunately none of the three are really improving forces, and the clown shows are increasingly good at deceit.
I think the Conservatives have got the balance right, and there are encouraging signs that some in the Labour movement are starting to as well, especially Shabana Mahmood. We also have centre-left posters on here like @LostPassword and @maxh who get this.
Not all do yet - and, strangely, the LDs seem the most wedded to this ideology - but I am confident we will get there because it's so barking mad.
When we do "they" will say they believed it all along, and it was inevitable it would happen anyway, despite fighting it every step of the way.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You do. Unless you are poor enough to get legal aid. One MP who was prosecuted for alleged sexual offences and found not guilty said after that the case had wiped out his savings.
Or you are prosecuted for a driving offence and the insurance company pays for your lawyer (which it normally will do provided you weren't over the drink or drugs limit)
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You do. Unless you are poor enough to get legal aid. One MP who was prosecuted for alleged sexual offences and found not guilty said after that the case had wiped out his savings.
The Secret Barrister has covered this. It's not you is it?
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Excellent news. Even better if it makes Telegraph readers froth at the mouth.
Probably something to do with the fact that the NAO staff are overwhelmingly male, white and from upper class backgrounds.
And they're not even being paid for the privilege, internships are for people desperate enough to work for nothing just to get work experience.
You drive two votes to Reform every time a policy like this is enacted, which you then double-down on by enjoying their reaction.
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
Quite. We could well see a Con/Lab/LD coalition simply to head off the nutters.
Unfortunately none of the three are really improving forces, and the clown shows are increasingly good at deceit.
I think the Conservatives have got the balance right, and there are encouraging signs that some in the Labour movement are starting to as well, especially Shabana Mahmood. We also have centre-left posters on here like @LostPassword and @maxh who get this.
Not all do yet - and, strangely, the LDs seem the most wedded to this ideology - but I am confident we will get there because it's so barking mad.
When we do "they" will say they believed it all along, and it was inevitable it would happen anyway, despite fighting it every step of the way.
Yes, perhaps I was being too negative. Kemi is going in the right direction, and for Labour Mahmood does seem very sensible. Well anyway I hope you're right in your more positive outlook.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
Has this got something to do with the China/Ukraine boundary?
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You’re not found innocent. You’re found ‘not guilty’.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Actually, I was parodying Dr Evil, adding my own ludicrous twists!
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You’re not found innocent. You’re found ‘not guilty’.
In a court case, if the defendant is found not guilty, who is the winner?
Answer - the lawyers involved.
(That's not intended to give offence but it is true.)
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
I’m still annoyed about an interview with Lammy the other morning about this where firstly he was asked about the fairness of Malkinson having to pay for his experts and legal advice out of his settlement and he waffled and eventually said he would have to look into the situation (how he doesn’t have it etched in his brain is beyond me) and then the Today interviewer failed to follow up with what is surely the crux of this by asking him whether he can say straight that anyone who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice should not be financially damaged in any way.
I remember Alex Chalk being asked, on the same subject when Justice Minister, absolutely unequivocally saying that Malkinson and similar should not be financially punished.
It’s surely as clear as daylight that if the state makes an error which costs you your freedom, reputation, sanity, life of freedom then any costs incurred whether board and lodging or legal and associated costs to prove the failure by the state should be borne by the state.
I cannot understand why Lammy could not just say, this is a disgrace and we are drafting legislation to ensure that nobody shall be charged anything relating to a false conviction. I can’t imagine there is anyone on here who would not think this is appropriate so why can a politician not just fix it.
If the government prosecutes you, you hire a lawyer and you are found innocent, who pays your lawyer?
You’re not found innocent. You’re found ‘not guilty’.
In a court case, if the defendant is found not guilty, who is the winner?
Answer - the lawyers involved.
(That's not intended to give offence but it is true.)
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Blimey, makes me wonder about the Bedchamber Crisis now
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
In terms of increased child benefit for working couples of course it is, even Reform now back that, we need to encourage people between 21 and 45 to have more children or even any children. Child benefit is available to all parents with household incomes under £80,000 a year
Blimey, makes me wonder about the Bedchamber Crisis now
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
Blimey, makes me wonder about the Bedchamber Crisis now
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
Blimey, makes me wonder about the Bedchamber Crisis now
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
Not the best of news for the reputation of the second longest serving Liberal PM of the 19th century after Gladstone. Thankfully he seems to have cleaned up his act once he entered No 10 at least in terms of legal sex
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Blimey, makes me wonder about the Bedchamber Crisis now
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
In other positive news, the Kent & East Sussex Light Railway is making excellent progress in extending the line back to Robertsbridge again, which will restore the whole (beautiful) route back to Tenterden again. The last passenger train from the former was on 11th June 1961:
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Please do share Cyclefree.
I am just bewildered that the CCRC turned the case down twice after the DNA evidence was available. How could they possibly have thought it was a safe conviction after that?
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I got it wrong. I googled to check if I was right but it was the actor who played Felix.
Not doing, but releasing a consultation. Not sure why a consultation is headed:
" Millions of unmarried couples to get stronger rights
Overdue reforms to protect women and meet the needs of modern relationships as the government continues to prioritise tackling VAWG and working people"
sounds sexist, but also with a mind set made up irrespective of responses.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
Not doing, but releasing a consultation. Not sure why a consultation is headed:
" Millions of unmarried couples to get stronger rights
Overdue reforms to protect women and meet the needs of modern relationships as the government continues to prioritise tackling VAWG and working people"
sounds sexist, but also with a mind set made up irrespective of responses.
In Scotland we have had cohabitation rights for about a decade which give a right to a share in the increase in value of the assets of the partner during the relationship commensurate with their contributions. I once did a truly bizarre case in Aberdeen about this. The female partner was claiming that she had played a major role in setting up a serviced flats business which had suffered from some somewhat unfortunate timing. In cross examination I asked her what share of the business she thought she was entitled to. She said half. I asked her if she had her cheque book and pointed out that since its creation the business had lost over £300k so she was due to pay £150k. The case was then abandoned.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I don't agree with discrimination of any description, positive or negative. The narrative of white, heterosexual men being disadvantaged by positive discrimination remains largely untrue in my opinion. Doubtless you could find me one or two examples, but by and large I would rather take my chances with figures of authority as a white, heterosexual male than I would anyone else.
But this is about individuals. It is active discrimination against a set of individuals based on the colour of their skin, their gender and their sexuality. So yes, those white heterosexual males are bring disadvantaged. In any other examples of race or sexuality this would be illegal.
But the likes of Farage are selling a narrative that in general white men are being disadvantaged to the benefit of non white men. Clearly on ocassion it happens. I would argue it happened to Henry Nowak. That shouldn't have been the case. I would hope that the error was not the system but the individual policeman. Of course I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
Honestly I don't really care what Farage thinks. I do care that everyone is treated on the same basis. That clearly isn't happening at present and I fear there is an institutional systemic reason.
One way and another, that hasn't been the case for rather a long time.
I've made the point before, but it bears repeating, that the worst way to deal with discrimination is to layer on another layer of discrimination. It doesn't really solve the original problem, and it creates another one on top of it, which alienates another section of society.
In the foreword to that report are these interesting words:
Provided internship and work experience opportunities for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities and women. In 2024-25, we supported 27 people through these initiatives.
This is nothing new it would seem but the Telegraph have seen it and are jumping all over it.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
Are white, middle-class heterosexual men the most put upon cohort in UK society?
That's not the point. This is officially sanctioned discrimination by sex and race, and that will create injustice.
If you play this game, you create social division.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that giving an occasional helping hand up to historically marginalised groups helps undo existing injustices. But some white middle class heterosexual men are snowflakes and easily triggered when their familiar advantages are reduced in the slightest.
I think most people would look at the situation and say that discriminating against anyone is wrong.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
I think two wrongs don’t make a right. But you’re the one who favours ethnically cleansing Palestinians, so I kinda thought you were in the two wrongs DO make a right camp.
I am not in favour of it, I do think relocation might be the least worst option to end the cycle of violence.
I would love to see a better, sustainable, option but as long as Hamas exist and their like, and as long as they are supported by the likes of Iran, it does not seem limely.
As long as Netanyahu and his uber Zionist clique lives then Hamas are not the genocidal nutters but actually freedom fighters.
Netanyahu is the best recruitment agency Hamas and Hezbollah have ever had.
Without him and his ilk, Hamas and Hezbollah would be starved of necessity and relevance.
Palestine is a State and it belongs in defined borders on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stolen by Israel.
The best solution is to empty Gaza of Palestinians, and move them all to the West Bank, moving all the Israeli settlers out of the West Bank and back in to Israel and Gaza to house them.
That means Israel is a whole state without a dangerous enclave of Palestinians who hate them, and Palestine is a whole state without illegal Israeli settlements. It is fair and just - nobody gets everything they want, but everyone gets what they need.
Leaving aside several issues with this plan, I note that there are over twice as many Gazans as Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Which I think should be fine. Gazans would tend to live more densely than Israeli settlers. I'd be more concerned that the Israeli settlers would burn and raze it all to the ground rather than let Palestinians live there, which would be very probable, but it would still be worth it to solve the problem.
Any moral solution to Israel-Palestine issue needs to remember that both Palestinians and Israelis should have the same rights. Deportation of the Palestinians fails that test.
Personally I think it's immoral to let the situation continue in the way it is. Clearly the current map doesn't work. A five year old could look at it and see that.
The 'deported' Palestinians would be leaving a bombed out shithole to a Palestinian homeland free from Israeli control. I think they would jump at it, and rightly so.
As an aside, I think your solution is an excellent one, and I should have acknowledged that.
The issue will be control of water - iirc most of Israel’s water sources are in the West Bank
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
On topic. I did a few sums last night and from what I can see, the boundaries of Aberdeen South (Westminster) are not very congrous with Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine (Holyrood) so projecting the Holyrood result (narrow SNP win over Con) onto Aberdeen South could be quite misleading:
In addition, I do think that voters vote differently in Westminster vs Holyrood elections, and also in a forced choice SLab voters often break to the SNP.
In short, I do not think the SCon price is value at present.
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Please do share Cyclefree.
I am just bewildered that the CCRC turned the case down twice after the DNA evidence was available. How could they possibly have thought it was a safe conviction after that?
The judicial system has a deep seated fear of acknowledging the system is capable of error. "We do not err. We cannot err. If we are fallible - the system collapses. Regardless of the cost to poor individuals, we have to hold the line."
As evidenced by Lord Denning. The former Master of the Rolls Denning’s was involved in 1980, with the still-incarcerated Birmingham Six’s civil claim against the police. Dismissing the case, he said:
“Just consider the course of events if their action were to proceed to trial… If the six men failed it would mean that much time and money and worry would have been expended by many people to no good purpose. If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous… That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, ‘It cannot be right that these actions should go any further’.”
In the foreword to that report are these interesting words:
Provided internship and work experience opportunities for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities and women. In 2024-25, we supported 27 people through these initiatives.
This is nothing new it would seem but the Telegraph have seen it and are jumping all over it.
The Telegraph are fighting tooth and nail for racial justice for white people. Soon will arise our MLK and MalcolmX.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
(It's a partial rewrite of a Dr Evil speech from an Austin Powers movie: I think it's "The Spy Who Shagged Me" but happy to be corrected)
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Please do share Cyclefree.
I am just bewildered that the CCRC turned the case down twice after the DNA evidence was available. How could they possibly have thought it was a safe conviction after that?
The judicial system has a deep seated fear of acknowledging the system is capable of error. "We do not err. We cannot err. If we are fallible - the system collapses. Regardless of the cost to poor individuals, we have to hold the line."..
DavidL is a judge, I think, and seems just as disquieted as the rest of us. So it's not quite as simple as that.
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
(It's a partial rewrite of a Dr Evil speech from an Austin Powers movie: I think it's "The Spy Who Shagged Me" but happy to be corrected)
Scotland was probably after London one of the better results for the Tories in May. Although the Scottish Tories still lost MSPs whereas London Tories made net gains of council seats, they held most of their Holyrood constituencies. Whereas in provincial England outside London lots of Tory councillors lost their seats particularly to Reform and Scottish Tories got a higher voteshare in the Holyrood vote than Welsh Tories did in the Senedd.
Kemi also still has a reasonable 20% favourable rating in Scotland. The Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine Holyrood seat which largely overlaps with the Aberdeen South Westminster seat was also one of a minority of constituencies in Scotland where the Tories beat Reform and were still in the top 2 against the SNP. Indeed the Tories were just 4% behind the SNP so if they squeeze the 17% who voted Reform then they could beat the SNP and win the seat.
Arbroath is the type of seat Labour might win back if Burnham wins the Makerfield by election and replaces Starmer as Labour leader and PM but it won't while Starmer remains PM which he still will be when the by elections are held
How is going from 31 MSPs to 12 in Scotland one of the Tories' "better results"?
As most of those were list seats going Reform, in terms of FPTP seats the Tories only lost 1 Holyrood constituency seat, Eastwood. As I said the Tories also got a higher voteshare in Scotland than in Wales.
In London the Tories even made net gains on FPTP council seats despite significant loss of council seats elsewhere in England.
So ironically the Kemi Tories are now performing best in Remain areas like London and Scotland because Reform are weaker there and where their opponents are Labour or the SNP not the LDs, where they are collapsing is in strong Leave areas Boris won which are electing Reform
The Conservative performance in London is one of those double edged swords.
Yes, the Conservatives did well against Labour in a number of Boroughs (Wandsworth, Westminster, Harrow, Hounslow, Brent, Barnet and Enfield to name but seven) and held off Reform in Bromley and Bexley but let's not forget the big losses to Reform in Havering (23) and to the LDs in Sutton (20) and the fact is there are now 10 Boroughs with no Conservative representation (up from 7).
DecrepiterJohnL said: Andy_JS said: Can we please continue to talk about why Paul Quinn hasn't received a longer sentence after allowing Andrew Malkinson to spend 17 years in prison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbLCXIaZBo Or should we talk about why Malkinson was not released for more than 12 years after DNA evidence exonerated him? Or why the CCRC turned him down twice. Or even how he came to be wrongly convicted in the first place.
I did some research into this and read the various reports. So if there's any interest, happy to share.
Please do share Cyclefree.
I am just bewildered that the CCRC turned the case down twice after the DNA evidence was available. How could they possibly have thought it was a safe conviction after that?
The judicial system has a deep seated fear of acknowledging the system is capable of error. "We do not err. We cannot err. If we are fallible - the system collapses. Regardless of the cost to poor individuals, we have to hold the line."..
DavidL is a judge, I think, and seems just as disquieted as the rest of us. So it's not quite as simple as that.
I am not a judge. I am a prosecutor (which perhaps makes your point even stronger although I don't see it that way).
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
Pope Leo XIV on war in Iran: "I think this has already been made very clear: the notion of a just war no longer applies. The problem is that just war theory developed in centuries when no one could have imagined the weapons we have today or humanity's capacity for destruction." https://x.com/ClaireGiangrave/status/2063172692904169502
"Middle-class white men banned from public sector internship National Audit Office’s six-week paid programme only accepts female, black heritage or lower socio-economic applicants" (£)
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving corner shop owner from Zanzibar with low-grade lethargy and a penchant for psephology. My mother was a 20-year-old newsreader named Gargi with gap-teeth.
My father would plagiarize; he would snigger. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the opinion poll. Sometimes, he would accuse free-range eggs of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the insane possess and the genius lament...
My childhood was typical: summers in Penarth... sudoku lessons... In the spring, we'd make Quorn helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a Sinclair C5 and beaten with Tory Party leaflets - pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first Coelacanth.
At the age of 14, a Bristolian named Brenda ritualistically shaved my buttocks. There really is nothing like a shorn bottom - it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!
I genuinely understand none of this.
It’s a riff on the Dr Evil speech from Austin Powers.
Thanks. Still absolutely no idea of the context.
Austin Powers is the main character from the Austin Powers movie series, which is a parody of James Bond movies. The character Dr Evil, who is a parody of Blofeld, who was the main (but not only) villain from said movies, makes the speech that Sunil quotes in the first movie.
Errr, no.
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
I was in a pub quiz team with someone who knew the actor who played Dr No. Extraordinary. If anyone knows it without Googling (I don't - I've already forgotten), I'll be impressed.
I don't - which is disappointing for a Bond fan. What I can say, however, is when I was a student in South Ken I often came across the chap who played Blofeld in some of the films. He was perhaps the only person who spent more time in the local pubs than me.
In the foreword to that report are these interesting words:
Provided internship and work experience opportunities for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities and women. In 2024-25, we supported 27 people through these initiatives.
This is nothing new it would seem but the Telegraph have seen it and are jumping all over it.
They can already get married or civil partnered, a waste of legislation
Indeed. A problem which nobody was agitating for, with a solution that is widely available and cheap. Next week there will be a public consultation on cures to the problem of scratching one's bottom and picking one's nose without washing the hand. I am no fan of Andy Burnham but the sooner he ends this silliness the better.
Where were you in 1966 for the World Cup final? Me? - the Russian boat had stopped in Copenhagen just in time to see the result on TV in a café.
I wasn’t even a cell in my father’s balls and he hadn’t even met my mother however I was sitting next to Tony Blair as England lifted the trophy then we laughed about the Jacky Milburn goal. Good times.
Scotland was probably after London one of the better results for the Tories in May. Although the Scottish Tories still lost MSPs whereas London Tories made net gains of council seats, they held most of their Holyrood constituencies. Whereas in provincial England outside London lots of Tory councillors lost their seats particularly to Reform and Scottish Tories got a higher voteshare in the Holyrood vote than Welsh Tories did in the Senedd.
Kemi also still has a reasonable 20% favourable rating in Scotland. The Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine Holyrood seat which largely overlaps with the Aberdeen South Westminster seat was also one of a minority of constituencies in Scotland where the Tories beat Reform and were still in the top 2 against the SNP. Indeed the Tories were just 4% behind the SNP so if they squeeze the 17% who voted Reform then they could beat the SNP and win the seat.
Arbroath is the type of seat Labour might win back if Burnham wins the Makerfield by election and replaces Starmer as Labour leader and PM but it won't while Starmer remains PM which he still will be when the by elections are held
How is going from 31 MSPs to 12 in Scotland one of the Tories' "better results"?
As most of those were list seats going Reform, in terms of FPTP seats the Tories only lost 1 Holyrood constituency seat, Eastwood. As I said the Tories also got a higher voteshare in Scotland than in Wales.
In London the Tories even made net gains on FPTP council seats despite significant loss of council seats elsewhere in England.
So ironically the Kemi Tories are now performing best in Remain areas like London and Scotland because Reform are weaker there and where their opponents are Labour or the SNP not the LDs, where they are collapsing is in strong Leave areas Boris won which are electing Reform
The Conservative performance in London is one of those double edged swords.
Yes, the Conservatives did well against Labour in a number of Boroughs (Wandsworth, Westminster, Harrow, Hounslow, Brent, Barnet and Enfield to name but seven) and held off Reform in Bromley and Bexley but let's not forget the big losses to Reform in Havering (23) and to the LDs in Sutton (20) and the fact is there are now 10 Boroughs with no Conservative representation (up from 7).
Havering is more Greater Essex than London and Sutton more Greater Surrey than London.
Overall the London results were very good, indeed the Tories voteshare in London was slightly higher in May than it was in GB overall
Comments
(It's sort of a view I've taken that I will criticise the people and the nation for their sins)
PS Applies to all nations
You lack the intellectual curiosity and reflection to realise the division this is driving into our politics, and a rather nasty communitarian one as well that is toxic to a unifying democracy, still less change it, and this pattern will be repeated until you do.
I can see a time in the future where nations compete for migrants.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=BD
Pakistan's is 3.4
https://geofactbook.com/countries/pakistan/total-fertility-rate
Unfortunately none of the three are really improving forces, and the clown shows are increasingly good at deceit.
Religion is also still a big factor, we are heading for a more Muslim world unless Christians, Hindus and Jews and atheists and Buddhists in particular have more children.
Fertility rate by religion globally is Muslims 3.1, Christians 2.7, Hindus 2.4, Jews 2.4, Religiously unaffiliated 1.7, Buddhists 1.6
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/factors-driving-religious-change-2010-2020/
It was 14 years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66513959
Although the key point was not exactly that he was fully exonerated, but rather the evidence of DNA from somebody other than him cast doubts on his guilt which should have been enough to overturn his conviction.
This journalist agrees, though as yet we have no evidence of how voters in the constituency are reacting to the case.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/will-makerfields-voters-be-swung-by-the-henry-nowak-factor/
Not all do yet - and, strangely, the LDs seem the most wedded to this ideology - but I am confident we will get there because it's so barking mad.
When we do "they" will say they believed it all along, and it was inevitable it would happen anyway, despite fighting it every step of the way.
The original Dr Evil speech is here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/d34qz/i_never_realized_how_funny_this_monologue_from_dr/
Answer - the lawyers involved.
(That's not intended to give offence but it is true.)
30.9 and 33.8 .
I don’t think it’s just financial concerns but societal changes . Clearly governments will have to find a way to get the rate up.
Though China, Spain, Greece, Italy, Japan and Taiwan, Poland, Thailand, Belarus, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Belgium are even lower than the UK is
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/fertility-rate-of-world-populations/
Brace.
Revealed: cover-up of attempted rape that let Lord Palmerston into No 10
The Victorian leader told a woman that no one would believe her if she told anyone of the attack in 1837, a memo in the Royal Archives has shown
He is lionised as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, but a 185-year-old memo reveals Lord Palmerston was involved in a scandal that could have stopped him ever getting to Downing Street.
In 1837, Palmerston, 52, who was then foreign secretary, was visiting Queen Victoria when he attempted to rape one of her ladies-in-waiting, Susan Brand, 22.
The memo, which was recently discovered in the Royal Archives and will be published in a new book this month, reveals for the first time the extraordinary operation that swung into action to cover up the incident.
Victoria’s adviser, Baron Stockmar, and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, feared the ensuing scandal would “damage” the character of the Queen, who was then 18. She had acceded to the throne just three months earlier and had not yet been crowned. They also anticipated that it would cause the “immediate break-up” of Melbourne’s administration, in which Palmerston held a key position.
Their decision to suppress the incident — the memo describes them persuading and bribing eyewitnesses into “silence” — meant that Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish viscount, never faced any consequences for the assault. He remained in office with his reputation intact and in 1855 became a popular prime minister.
Jehanne Wake, the historian and biographer, stumbled across the memo on a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle while she and her daughter, Katie, were researching their upcoming book The Countess: Seduction, Power and the Extraordinary Life of Emily Cowper, which will be published on June 25.
Countess Cowper, Melbourne’s sister, was at the time of the assault Palmerston’s long-term mistress. They married two years later. Wake found the memo among Cowper’s papers, some of which are held at Windsor.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/history/article/revealed-cover-up-of-attempted-rape-that-let-lord-palmerston-into-no-10-n2znw5tlh
https://youtu.be/YiYn8rNTutQ?si=0tgxNgR7gNQIId1p
https://kesr.org.uk/robertsbridge-extension-update/
https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-first-section-of-track-goes-down-1.html
Dr No gives the speech in the first James Bond film.
" Millions of unmarried couples to get stronger rights
Overdue reforms to protect women and meet the needs of modern relationships as the government continues to prioritise tackling VAWG and working people"
sounds sexist, but also with a mind set made up irrespective of responses.
(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
More revelations coming tonight about the Mandelson/McSweeney messages.
I once did a truly bizarre case in Aberdeen about this. The female partner was claiming that she had played a major role in setting up a serviced flats business which had suffered from some somewhat unfortunate timing.
In cross examination I asked her what share of the business she thought she was entitled to. She said half. I asked her if she had her cheque book and pointed out that since its creation the business had lost over £300k so she was due to pay £150k. The case was then abandoned.
I've made the point before, but it bears repeating, that the worst way to deal with discrimination is to layer on another layer of discrimination.
It doesn't really solve the original problem, and it creates another one on top of it, which alienates another section of society.
Plenty of excitement around a Telegraph story relating to the National Audit Office.
The NAO conveniently publishes its own diversity reports:
https://www.nao.org.uk/corporate-information/nao-diversity-and-inclusion-annual-report-2024-25/
In the foreword to that report are these interesting words:
Provided internship and work experience opportunities for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities and women. In 2024-25, we supported 27 people through these initiatives.
This is nothing new it would seem but the Telegraph have seen it and are jumping all over it.
(He has that look.)
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/13603/the-latest-makerfield-betting-politicalbetting-com/p5#Comment_5566859
In addition, I do think that voters vote differently in Westminster vs Holyrood elections, and also in a forced choice SLab voters often break to the SNP.
In short, I do not think the SCon price is value at present.
As evidenced by Lord Denning. The former Master of the Rolls Denning’s was involved in 1980, with the still-incarcerated Birmingham Six’s civil claim against the police. Dismissing the case, he said:
“Just consider the course of events if their action were to proceed to trial… If the six men failed it would mean that much time and money and worry would have been expended by many people to no good purpose. If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous… That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, ‘It cannot be right that these actions should go any further’.”
So it's not quite as simple as that.
Yes, the Conservatives did well against Labour in a number of Boroughs (Wandsworth, Westminster, Harrow, Hounslow, Brent, Barnet and Enfield to name but seven) and held off Reform in Bromley and Bexley but let's not forget the big losses to Reform in Havering (23) and to the LDs in Sutton (20) and the fact is there are now 10 Boroughs with no Conservative representation (up from 7).
Me? - the Russian boat had stopped in Copenhagen just in time to see the result on TV in a café.
"I think this has already been made very clear: the notion of a just war no longer applies. The problem is that just war theory developed in centuries when no one could have imagined the weapons we have today or humanity's capacity for destruction."
https://x.com/ClaireGiangrave/status/2063172692904169502
That is quite a change in doctrine.
Oh, sorry. I was 9 years away from being born
Same old Telegraph
Overall the London results were very good, indeed the Tories voteshare in London was slightly higher in May than it was in GB overall