This isn't a manifesto, but a set of five tests. Anyone asking to lead our country should be able to look down this list and say yes to all five.
If asked to provide the plan for those 5 tests I suspect he would be a withering wreck with 5 minutes of the interview beginning as I started asking for details rather than fine words..
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
Genuine mystery to me why people rate Badenoch. I can see how they might not notice her incompetence. They're not necessarily paying attention and Badenoch can probably cover up a lot through sheer bluster. But it's baffling to me how they can miss seeing her rudeness and bad behaviour. Most people are polite. No way would they tolerate this kind of aggression in a normal workplace or social situation.
Personally, I don't really rate her. But I do give her credit for getting better compared to day-one Kemi. Quite a lot of politicians never progress that far.
Don't see much of an improvement myself, but as I say the whole phenomenon is a mystery to me.
This was Dave at Blair's last PMQs, compare the class oozing from him and the bile from Badenoch.
Tory leader David Cameron: "Can I congratulate him on his achievement in leading his party for 13 years and this country for 10. He has considerable achievements ... we wish him and his family well and every success for whatever he does in the future." Mr Blair replied he had always found Mr Cameron "most proper, correct and courteous in his dealings with me".
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell: "You have been unfailingly courteous..."
Northern Ireland first minister The Rev Ian Paisley: "I understand that he was downcast many a day, I understand that he was disappointed, understand he was angry, and I understand that perhaps he even lost his temper. But I want to say that he treated me with the greatest of courtesy. I had many things that I disagreed with him on but we faced them."
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
I wouldn't go as far as Crace, but it was an ungracious -and immature- speech.
This isn't a manifesto, but a set of five tests. Anyone asking to lead our country should be able to look down this list and say yes to all five.
He left the government five minutes ago and now reveals he didn't agree with a single major plank of their approach and strongly disagreed with most of it.
This was Dave at Blair's last PMQs, compare the class oozing from him and the bile from Badenoch.
Tory leader David Cameron: "Can I congratulate him on his achievement in leading his party for 13 years and this country for 10. He has considerable achievements ... we wish him and his family well and every success for whatever he does in the future." Mr Blair replied he had always found Mr Cameron "most proper, correct and courteous in his dealings with me".
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell: "You have been unfailingly courteous..."
Northern Ireland first minister The Rev Ian Paisley: "I understand that he was downcast many a day, I understand that he was disappointed, understand he was angry, and I understand that perhaps he even lost his temper. But I want to say that he treated me with the greatest of courtesy. I had many things that I disagreed with him on but we faced them."
I am devastated. The 0% I earn on cash in my S&S ISA will be taxed down to 0%.
I’m getting a few percentage on my cash. The cash will be deployed. But this pushes you to be fully invested all the time and reinvest when you get income. Not a fan
I don’t like it but I have to go along with it
(narrator: yes, Viewcode got that reference as well. In the original German)
Get your cash in an MMF Taz, you will get close to 4%
What’s an MMF? (I mean, I know one meaning of MMF, it was a lot of fun and got me to 100%, so to speak. It got all of us to 100%. But there was no cash involved.)
That sounds a lot more interesting than a money market fund
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
I wouldn't go as far as Crace, but it was an ungracious -and immature- speech.
It seemed completely unnecessary.
Kemi has several PMQs left with Starmer. I don't really know what you expect her to do in them.
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
I wouldn't go as far as Crace, but it was an ungracious -and immature- speech.
It seemed completely unnecessary.
You are talking about her.
The voters hate Starmer. You think they reckon Kemi was ungracious and immature - or sharing their views?
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
I wouldn't go as far as Crace, but it was an ungracious -and immature- speech.
It seemed completely unnecessary.
She is as lacking in class as the Khymer blueprint for Kampuchea.
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
Genuine mystery to me why people rate Badenoch. I can see how they might not notice her incompetence. They're not necessarily paying attention and Badenoch can probably cover up a lot through sheer bluster. But it's baffling to me how they can miss seeing her rudeness and bad behaviour. Most people are polite. No way would they tolerate this kind of aggression in a normal workplace or social situation.
Two things, I reckon.
Kemi is that way because she is our first big party leader to be a social media native. Unfortunately, rudeness is par for the course once you leave the cililised fragrant garden of PB. Out there, upsetting people is a good thing, just so long as it's the right people who get upset. Zack Polanski's remarks on Starmer were equally unclassy. The convention that a new MP praises their predecessor during their maiden speech (whatever they were like) is a good one.
She gets away with it in part because other social media natives approve; they think this is what debate should be like. But also- there's as serious a lack of talent on the Conservative side as on the Labour side. They don't even have any high-profile Mayors that they could parachute into the Conservative leadership.
I don’t think Kemi has yet called someone a wanker and told them to fuck off on social media or in public. Once she gets her teeth into PM Andy it may come of course.
Perhaps Starmer needs to be careful how he signs off.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
Genuine mystery to me why people rate Badenoch. I can see how they might not notice her incompetence. They're not necessarily paying attention and Badenoch can probably cover up a lot through sheer bluster. But it's baffling to me how they can miss seeing her rudeness and bad behaviour. Most people are polite. No way would they tolerate this kind of aggression in a normal workplace or social situation.
Two things, I reckon.
Kemi is that way because she is our first big party leader to be a social media native. Unfortunately, rudeness is par for the course once you leave the cililised fragrant garden of PB. Out there, upsetting people is a good thing, just so long as it's the right people who get upset. Zack Polanski's remarks on Starmer were equally unclassy. The convention that a new MP praises their predecessor during their maiden speech (whatever they were like) is a good one.
She gets away with it in part because other social media natives approve; they think this is what debate should be like. But also- there's as serious a lack of talent on the Conservative side as on the Labour side. They don't even have any high-profile Mayors that they could parachute into the Conservative leadership.
I don’t think Kemi has yet called someone a wanker and told them to fuck off on social media or in public. Once she gets her teeth into PM Andy it may come of course.
Perhaps Starmer needs to be careful how he signs off.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
I don’t know. He seems to think that I’m “entitled”
I think that it might be because he’s stupid and I have a posh voice
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
You say she got the win over Starmer, which I would dispute. That being so, what was the point of sticking the boot in?
It got a "phwar, phwar" from the chinless wonders behind her, but totally unnecessary.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.
Labour’s candidate to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor has been named as Bev Craig, the leader of the city council.
Burnham, who could be prime minister in under four weeks, is expected to campaign heavily for Labour in a tight contest with Reform UK on 30 July.
As many as 2 million people will be eligible to vote in the Greater Manchester byelection, making it the biggest in modern times in British politics.
Craig, 41, has long been seen as a rising star within Labour and took over Manchester city council in 2021 at the age of 36, becoming only the third holder of the office in four decades and its first woman.
Like many council leaders, however, she remains little-known to ordinary voters. A huge publicity blitz will pitch her as continuing the work of Burnham, who won the 2024 contest with nearly two-thirds of the vote and a 351,000-vote majority.
Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees
And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.
The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious
Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.
solar panels + heat pumps please
AC is an air-to-air heat pump.
Previously they only promoted air-to-water heat pumps as an alternative to gas boilers but they're not always suitable for retrofitting as a like-for-like replacement which has damaged their image. The good thing about AC is that it complements whatever else you've got instead of attempting to replace it.
A heat pump is just an AC unit with (a) a variable speed compressor, that can (b) run in reverse and therefore heat as well as cool.
In our flat in London, we put in air conditioning about three years ago. In retrospect, we should have gone with a heat pump. But I guess we were probably about a year too early.
I know I've said it before but our heat pump is keep the house really cool. It's currently 33.7 outside and 23.4 inside; it peaked at 35.7* outside and 24.2 inside.
(*That's an absolute record high for us, not for June but for any month. We've been recording for 16 years.)
They work for well insulated homes that have been designed for them.
Stick them in an average British semi and they'd be shit. The output isn't good enough. They don't heat hot enough fast enough in Winter, and provide enough hot water when you need it, and take ages to cool a house down in the Summer.
The rest is propaganda. They are expensive and a bit shit.
This is why no-one buys one.
That's not true at all. Just more deranged anti-wokism. I used to work in this area, designing heat pump systems for domestic homes. Any house built from 2010 onwards, which is a lot of houses, is suitable. Houses built earlier may be suitable, they may not be. It depends.
At today's energy price cap prices:
Gas 5.74p/kwh Electric 24.67p/kwh
Gas combi boiler typically better than 92% efficiency. Thus 1kw of gas boiler output approx 5.74 / 0. 92 = 6.24p 24.67 / 6.24 = 3.95 so for a Heat Pump to be cheaper than gas would require a system COP value greater than 3.95.
Google suggests that's just about achievable with a good system, but a lot of installs won't be getting past 3.0 in typical usage.
So the short answer is - most heat pumps are still more expensive to run than mains gas.
There are a couple side notes to this.
One is that lots of people install heat pumps and report substantial savings. Usually if you ask the pertinent questions, it becomes apparent that the heat pump install included a load of insulation - what is not realised is that the savings are usually all from the insulation.
The other is that if you are willing to go on a time of day/price shifting electric tariff, it's possible for your electricity to cost vastly less than the cap. The snag is that it either means loads of extra cap-ex on a battery, or you get well and truly shafted on the "on peak" electricity price (even if your heat pump only runs on off peak electric, other appliances on your house may be less obliging).
(in our climate, there is a strong anti-synergy with solar panels and heat pumps as solar output is usually dismal in the 3 months of the year you want the heating on) .
Your gas price cap number is out of date: it's currently 7.3p.
Plus, there are two provisos you need to add to this:
(1) With the heat pump you also get cooling in summer! (2) If you have solar panels -and in time everyone will have solar panels- then your electricity price will be *much* closer to that gas per KWh number.
My numbers are correct for today. Having looked a little further, you are however correct that the gas price cap goes up in July; although so does the electric price cap.
Solar panels and a heat pump are virtually useless for heating the housing in the UK although they will work well to drive aircon.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop solar array, it generates about 3kw in full sun. Seasonal monthly production for 2024 (2025 is misleading as they had half the array down with a fault for 6 weeks).
Jan 61kwh Feb 98kwh Mar 252kwh Apr 416kwh May 506kwh Jun 624kwh Jul 524kwh Aug 466kwh Sep 274kwh Oct 122kwh Nov 51kwh Dec 42kwh
Their house uses about 270kwh/month with little seasonal variation (they have gas central heating), so October to Feb they are already importing electricity to make up the shortfall.
Obviously they could fit more panels, but this is not free, they probably won't be able to export all the summer production (I'm not sure what DNO limit they have, probably 3.5kw), and at about double their present number of panels, they willl have used every inch of roof space, including some quite suboptimal bits.
They'd have to completely cover the back garden in panels run a heatpump off solar in the winter, and would also need a substantial battery as the day to day variation is considerable (anything from 0.4kwh to 2.5kwh generated per day with their current system through January - by comparison it made 25kwh today).
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
I don’t know. He seems to think that I’m “entitled”
I think that it might be because he’s stupid and I have a posh voice
Wait until he complains about you refusing to talk to him.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.
Sure but to formally complain to management. As a fellow postie?
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
That got me trying to remember how Neil carried on when Maggie was ousted. I don't recall too much moist-eyed bonhomie. Wasn't there talk of 'this wretched woman here'?
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.
Sure but to formally complain to management. As a fellow postie?
Yeah, I would have a word first. Not that a postie could jump the hedge between me and my neighbour, which is a rather evil blackthorn.
Not having (anywhere close to) 81 MPs is a valid reason surely?
No chance of a repeat of the hilarity of McDonnell or another lefty being nominated to make it a contest and beating Burnham handsomely, sadly. I'd vote for McDonnell, a mere youngster in US terms.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.
Sure but to formally complain to management. As a fellow postie?
Yeah, I would have a word first. Not that a postie could jump the hedge between me and my neighbour, which is a rather evil blackthorn.
I have a feeling that the postie wants a particular route and so needs to remove that routes current worker..
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.
I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route
He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week
as a bit of banter, or for real?
For real
His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it
He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door
He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs
Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?
A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.
Sure but to formally complain to management. As a fellow postie?
Yeah, I would have a word first. Not that a postie could jump the hedge between me and my neighbour, which is a rather evil blackthorn.
I have a feeling that the postie wants a particular route and so needs to remove that routes current worker..
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.
Once again - it wasn’t the last PMQs for Starmer. It’s like having three leaving do’s. By the third you’ll have run out of nice things to say…
Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals
Not stacked with confidence here
The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.
Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.
Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.
Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively
Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.
Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.
Less favourable groups for Scotland:
Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat
Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.
Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland
Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.
Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.
Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.
I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.
So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.
Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees
And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.
The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious
Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.
solar panels + heat pumps please
AC is an air-to-air heat pump.
Previously they only promoted air-to-water heat pumps as an alternative to gas boilers but they're not always suitable for retrofitting as a like-for-like replacement which has damaged their image. The good thing about AC is that it complements whatever else you've got instead of attempting to replace it.
A heat pump is just an AC unit with (a) a variable speed compressor, that can (b) run in reverse and therefore heat as well as cool.
In our flat in London, we put in air conditioning about three years ago. In retrospect, we should have gone with a heat pump. But I guess we were probably about a year too early.
I know I've said it before but our heat pump is keep the house really cool. It's currently 33.7 outside and 23.4 inside; it peaked at 35.7* outside and 24.2 inside.
(*That's an absolute record high for us, not for June but for any month. We've been recording for 16 years.)
They work for well insulated homes that have been designed for them.
Stick them in an average British semi and they'd be shit. The output isn't good enough. They don't heat hot enough fast enough in Winter, and provide enough hot water when you need it, and take ages to cool a house down in the Summer.
The rest is propaganda. They are expensive and a bit shit.
This is why no-one buys one.
That's not true at all. Just more deranged anti-wokism. I used to work in this area, designing heat pump systems for domestic homes. Any house built from 2010 onwards, which is a lot of houses, is suitable. Houses built earlier may be suitable, they may not be. It depends.
At today's energy price cap prices:
Gas 5.74p/kwh Electric 24.67p/kwh
Gas combi boiler typically better than 92% efficiency. Thus 1kw of gas boiler output approx 5.74 / 0. 92 = 6.24p 24.67 / 6.24 = 3.95 so for a Heat Pump to be cheaper than gas would require a system COP value greater than 3.95.
Google suggests that's just about achievable with a good system, but a lot of installs won't be getting past 3.0 in typical usage.
So the short answer is - most heat pumps are still more expensive to run than mains gas.
There are a couple side notes to this.
One is that lots of people install heat pumps and report substantial savings. Usually if you ask the pertinent questions, it becomes apparent that the heat pump install included a load of insulation - what is not realised is that the savings are usually all from the insulation.
The other is that if you are willing to go on a time of day/price shifting electric tariff, it's possible for your electricity to cost vastly less than the cap. The snag is that it either means loads of extra cap-ex on a battery, or you get well and truly shafted on the "on peak" electricity price (even if your heat pump only runs on off peak electric, other appliances on your house may be less obliging).
(in our climate, there is a strong anti-synergy with solar panels and heat pumps as solar output is usually dismal in the 3 months of the year you want the heating on) .
Your gas price cap number is out of date: it's currently 7.3p.
Plus, there are two provisos you need to add to this:
(1) With the heat pump you also get cooling in summer! (2) If you have solar panels -and in time everyone will have solar panels- then your electricity price will be *much* closer to that gas per KWh number.
My numbers are correct for today. Having looked a little further, you are however correct that the gas price cap goes up in July; although so does the electric price cap.
Solar panels and a heat pump are virtually useless for heating the housing in the UK although they will work well to drive aircon.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop solar array, it generates about 3kw in full sun. Seasonal monthly production for 2024 (2025 is misleading as they had half the array down with a fault for 6 weeks).
Jan 61kwh Feb 98kwh Mar 252kwh Apr 416kwh May 506kwh Jun 624kwh Jul 524kwh Aug 466kwh Sep 274kwh Oct 122kwh Nov 51kwh Dec 42kwh
Their house uses about 270kwh/month with little seasonal variation (they have gas central heating), so October to Feb they are already importing electricity to make up the shortfall.
Obviously they could fit more panels, but this is not free, they probably won't be able to export all the summer production (I'm not sure what DNO limit they have, probably 3.5kw), and at about double their present number of panels, they willl have used every inch of roof space, including some quite suboptimal bits.
They'd have to completely cover the back garden in panels run a heatpump off solar in the winter, and would also need a substantial battery as the day to day variation is considerable (anything from 0.4kwh to 2.5kwh generated per day with their current system through January - by comparison it made 25kwh today).
Actually, an air source heat pump is perfect for heating a house in the UK. It's all I've had for the last 8 years and no problems whatsoever.
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.
You have, like others, misunderstood this was not Starmer last PMQs where tributes are traditional given across the house
Come back on the 15th July after Starmer's last PMQs
Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees
And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.
The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious
Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.
solar panels + heat pumps please
AC is an air-to-air heat pump.
Previously they only promoted air-to-water heat pumps as an alternative to gas boilers but they're not always suitable for retrofitting as a like-for-like replacement which has damaged their image. The good thing about AC is that it complements whatever else you've got instead of attempting to replace it.
A heat pump is just an AC unit with (a) a variable speed compressor, that can (b) run in reverse and therefore heat as well as cool.
In our flat in London, we put in air conditioning about three years ago. In retrospect, we should have gone with a heat pump. But I guess we were probably about a year too early.
I know I've said it before but our heat pump is keep the house really cool. It's currently 33.7 outside and 23.4 inside; it peaked at 35.7* outside and 24.2 inside.
(*That's an absolute record high for us, not for June but for any month. We've been recording for 16 years.)
They work for well insulated homes that have been designed for them.
Stick them in an average British semi and they'd be shit. The output isn't good enough. They don't heat hot enough fast enough in Winter, and provide enough hot water when you need it, and take ages to cool a house down in the Summer.
The rest is propaganda. They are expensive and a bit shit.
This is why no-one buys one.
That's not true at all. Just more deranged anti-wokism. I used to work in this area, designing heat pump systems for domestic homes. Any house built from 2010 onwards, which is a lot of houses, is suitable. Houses built earlier may be suitable, they may not be. It depends.
At today's energy price cap prices:
Gas 5.74p/kwh Electric 24.67p/kwh
Gas combi boiler typically better than 92% efficiency. Thus 1kw of gas boiler output approx 5.74 / 0. 92 = 6.24p 24.67 / 6.24 = 3.95 so for a Heat Pump to be cheaper than gas would require a system COP value greater than 3.95.
Google suggests that's just about achievable with a good system, but a lot of installs won't be getting past 3.0 in typical usage.
So the short answer is - most heat pumps are still more expensive to run than mains gas.
There are a couple side notes to this.
One is that lots of people install heat pumps and report substantial savings. Usually if you ask the pertinent questions, it becomes apparent that the heat pump install included a load of insulation - what is not realised is that the savings are usually all from the insulation.
The other is that if you are willing to go on a time of day/price shifting electric tariff, it's possible for your electricity to cost vastly less than the cap. The snag is that it either means loads of extra cap-ex on a battery, or you get well and truly shafted on the "on peak" electricity price (even if your heat pump only runs on off peak electric, other appliances on your house may be less obliging).
(in our climate, there is a strong anti-synergy with solar panels and heat pumps as solar output is usually dismal in the 3 months of the year you want the heating on) .
Your gas price cap number is out of date: it's currently 7.3p.
Plus, there are two provisos you need to add to this:
(1) With the heat pump you also get cooling in summer! (2) If you have solar panels -and in time everyone will have solar panels- then your electricity price will be *much* closer to that gas per KWh number.
My numbers are correct for today. Having looked a little further, you are however correct that the gas price cap goes up in July; although so does the electric price cap.
Solar panels and a heat pump are virtually useless for heating the housing in the UK although they will work well to drive aircon.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop solar array, it generates about 3kw in full sun. Seasonal monthly production for 2024 (2025 is misleading as they had half the array down with a fault for 6 weeks).
Jan 61kwh Feb 98kwh Mar 252kwh Apr 416kwh May 506kwh Jun 624kwh Jul 524kwh Aug 466kwh Sep 274kwh Oct 122kwh Nov 51kwh Dec 42kwh
Their house uses about 270kwh/month with little seasonal variation (they have gas central heating), so October to Feb they are already importing electricity to make up the shortfall.
Obviously they could fit more panels, but this is not free, they probably won't be able to export all the summer production (I'm not sure what DNO limit they have, probably 3.5kw), and at about double their present number of panels, they willl have used every inch of roof space, including some quite suboptimal bits.
They'd have to completely cover the back garden in panels run a heatpump off solar in the winter, and would also need a substantial battery as the day to day variation is considerable (anything from 0.4kwh to 2.5kwh generated per day with their current system through January - by comparison it made 25kwh today).
Actually, an air source heat pump is perfect for heating a house in the UK. It's all I've had for the last 8 years and no problems whatsoever.
Slightly peripheral to this but an interesting part of the rise of renewables, Australia now has free electricity for 3 hours each afternoon.
Labour’s candidate to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor has been named as Bev Craig, the leader of the city council.
Burnham, who could be prime minister in under four weeks, is expected to campaign heavily for Labour in a tight contest with Reform UK on 30 July.
As many as 2 million people will be eligible to vote in the Greater Manchester byelection, making it the biggest in modern times in British politics.
Craig, 41, has long been seen as a rising star within Labour and took over Manchester city council in 2021 at the age of 36, becoming only the third holder of the office in four decades and its first woman.
Like many council leaders, however, she remains little-known to ordinary voters. A huge publicity blitz will pitch her as continuing the work of Burnham, who won the 2024 contest with nearly two-thirds of the vote and a 351,000-vote majority.
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
There’s time enough for pleasantries. That’s not his last PMQs as PM, for a start. And frankly he is a graceless tosspot himself, as he has showed on many occasions. And John Crace is not the target audience.
As one of the most graceless posters on here your advice on the subject is always worth listening to
Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals
Not stacked with confidence here
The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.
Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.
Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.
Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively
Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.
Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.
Less favourable groups for Scotland:
Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat
Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.
Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland
Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.
Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.
Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.
I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.
So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.
Agree with much of your analysis, assuming teams in group J won't muck around
4 pts = definitely through
3 points = cut off is likely to be around -3 goal diff
The wait for teams finishing on 3 points will be agonising
3 points -2 likely to be 7th/8th places
This is close to the team Scotland fans wanted to see Shankland in and Scott McKenna in defence, lets see what happens
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
There’s time enough for pleasantries. That’s not his last PMQs as PM, for a start. And frankly he is a graceless tosspot himself, as he has showed on many occasions. And John Crace is not the target audience.
As one of the most graceless posters on here your advice on the subject is always worth listening to
Prime Ministers receive tributes at their last PMQ so not today
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has forced Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, the top U.S. Army commander in Europe, to retire, a blow to those who saw him as a key leader of the military’s push to adapt to a future battlefield dominated by drones and artificial intelligence, defense officials said.
General Donahue is expected to relinquish command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa on July 2, the Army said in a statement. He plans to retire in August.
The general has long been seen as one of the Army’s rising stars.
Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.
It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.
Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July
Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?
Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.
You have, like others, misunderstood this was not Starmer last PMQs where tributes are traditional given across the house
Come back on the 15th July after Starmer's last PMQs
She sometimes makes Mrs Thatcher look like Mary Poppins in comparison.
However Mrs T wasn't competing with Nigel Farage for the attention of right wing voters. It may be ugly, but is probably sound politics. And in today's world a British PM can't afford to be a pussy with monsters like Putin and Trump stalking the planet.
General Donahue’s removal is said to be part of an ongoing push by Hegseth to put his imprint on the military’s leadership, while squeezing out officers with track records of battlefield valor and command experience in favor of less accomplished political loyalists, officers that fully support both himself and President Trump.
Natasha Clark @NatashaC · 1h Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9@lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch
"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "
"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."
There’s time enough for pleasantries. That’s not his last PMQs as PM, for a start. And frankly he is a graceless tosspot himself, as he has showed on many occasions. And John Crace is not the target audience.
As one of the most graceless posters on here your advice on the subject dede de is always worth listening to
Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees
And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.
The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious
Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.
solar panels + heat pumps please
AC is an air-to-air heat pump.
Previously they only promoted air-to-water heat pumps as an alternative to gas boilers but they're not always suitable for retrofitting as a like-for-like replacement which has damaged their image. The good thing about AC is that it complements whatever else you've got instead of attempting to replace it.
A heat pump is just an AC unit with (a) a variable speed compressor, that can (b) run in reverse and therefore heat as well as cool.
In our flat in London, we put in air conditioning about three years ago. In retrospect, we should have gone with a heat pump. But I guess we were probably about a year too early.
I know I've said it before but our heat pump is keep the house really cool. It's currently 33.7 outside and 23.4 inside; it peaked at 35.7* outside and 24.2 inside.
(*That's an absolute record high for us, not for June but for any month. We've been recording for 16 years.)
They work for well insulated homes that have been designed for them.
Stick them in an average British semi and they'd be shit. The output isn't good enough. They don't heat hot enough fast enough in Winter, and provide enough hot water when you need it, and take ages to cool a house down in the Summer.
The rest is propaganda. They are expensive and a bit shit.
This is why no-one buys one.
That's not true at all. Just more deranged anti-wokism. I used to work in this area, designing heat pump systems for domestic homes. Any house built from 2010 onwards, which is a lot of houses, is suitable. Houses built earlier may be suitable, they may not be. It depends.
At today's energy price cap prices:
Gas 5.74p/kwh Electric 24.67p/kwh
Gas combi boiler typically better than 92% efficiency. Thus 1kw of gas boiler output approx 5.74 / 0. 92 = 6.24p 24.67 / 6.24 = 3.95 so for a Heat Pump to be cheaper than gas would require a system COP value greater than 3.95.
Google suggests that's just about achievable with a good system, but a lot of installs won't be getting past 3.0 in typical usage.
So the short answer is - most heat pumps are still more expensive to run than mains gas.
There are a couple side notes to this.
One is that lots of people install heat pumps and report substantial savings. Usually if you ask the pertinent questions, it becomes apparent that the heat pump install included a load of insulation - what is not realised is that the savings are usually all from the insulation.
The other is that if you are willing to go on a time of day/price shifting electric tariff, it's possible for your electricity to cost vastly less than the cap. The snag is that it either means loads of extra cap-ex on a battery, or you get well and truly shafted on the "on peak" electricity price (even if your heat pump only runs on off peak electric, other appliances on your house may be less obliging).
(in our climate, there is a strong anti-synergy with solar panels and heat pumps as solar output is usually dismal in the 3 months of the year you want the heating on) .
Your gas price cap number is out of date: it's currently 7.3p.
Plus, there are two provisos you need to add to this:
(1) With the heat pump you also get cooling in summer! (2) If you have solar panels -and in time everyone will have solar panels- then your electricity price will be *much* closer to that gas per KWh number.
My numbers are correct for today. Having looked a little further, you are however correct that the gas price cap goes up in July; although so does the electric price cap.
Solar panels and a heat pump are virtually useless for heating the housing in the UK although they will work well to drive aircon.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop solar array, it generates about 3kw in full sun. Seasonal monthly production for 2024 (2025 is misleading as they had half the array down with a fault for 6 weeks).
Jan 61kwh Feb 98kwh Mar 252kwh Apr 416kwh May 506kwh Jun 624kwh Jul 524kwh Aug 466kwh Sep 274kwh Oct 122kwh Nov 51kwh Dec 42kwh
Their house uses about 270kwh/month with little seasonal variation (they have gas central heating), so October to Feb they are already importing electricity to make up the shortfall.
Obviously they could fit more panels, but this is not free, they probably won't be able to export all the summer production (I'm not sure what DNO limit they have, probably 3.5kw), and at about double their present number of panels, they willl have used every inch of roof space, including some quite suboptimal bits.
They'd have to completely cover the back garden in panels run a heatpump off solar in the winter, and would also need a substantial battery as the day to day variation is considerable (anything from 0.4kwh to 2.5kwh generated per day with their current system through January - by comparison it made 25kwh today).
And that's why you have a grid connection: because there are going to be times you will want electricity from the grid. And you know what... a lot of the time, espcially in winter, that's going to be natural gas generating that electricity.
Here's the thing: your inlaws have their total electricity usafge covered for seven months of the year, with a further two months where it's a significant chunk is covered, and for three months, solar is m'eh.
And that's OK. Because that means that the UK burning essentially no natural gas or coal for 60% of the year for this house, and is seeing a decent saving on another 15%. For a quarter of the year, they still need to rely on natural gas. But that's fine because (being sensible) the UK has (or rather should) have been stockpiling and storing it.
Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals
Not stacked with confidence here
The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.
Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.
Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.
Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively
Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.
Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.
Less favourable groups for Scotland:
Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat
Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.
Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland
Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.
Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.
Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.
I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.
So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.
Agree with much of your analysis, assuming teams in group J won't muck around
4 pts = definitely through
3 points = cut off is likely to be around -3 goal diff
The wait for teams finishing on 3 points will be agonising
3 points -2 likely to be 7th/8th places
This is close to the team Scotland fans wanted to see Shankland in and Scott McKenna in defence, lets see what happens
General Donahue’s removal is said to be part of an ongoing push by Hegseth to put his imprint on the military’s leadership, while squeezing out officers with track records of battlefield valor and command experience in favor of less accomplished political loyalists, officers that fully support both himself and President Trump.
Only two more years and three or so months to go kids.
The sad thing is the next lot will have to get rid of his politically appointed idiots, which the republicans will then say is itself followed by political appointments. And so the circle will go on, and America now has a politicised military.
Andy Burnham is backing a proposal to scrap Council Tax and Stamp Duty, replacing them with a Proportional Property Tax (PPT).
📌 Rate: 0.48% of current property value 📌 Cap: £1,200 per year initially 📌 Supporters claim 77% of households would save an average £556 annually
A major reform if it ever gains traction. Winners and losers would depend heavily on property values and location.
Why 0.48? Why not 0.5? It's so close as to make no difference and would be easier to work out. Hope it's going to go on empty properties held as investments too.
Andy Burnham is backing a proposal to scrap Council Tax and Stamp Duty, replacing them with a Proportional Property Tax (PPT).
📌 Rate: 0.48% of current property value 📌 Cap: £1,200 per year initially 📌 Supporters claim 77% of households would save an average £556 annually
A major reform if it ever gains traction. Winners and losers would depend heavily on property values and location.
Why 0.48? Why not 0.5? It's so close as to make no difference and would be easier to work out. Hope it's going to go on empty properties held as investments too.
Bet you 0.48& of the average house price gets you the target number.
General Donahue’s removal is said to be part of an ongoing push by Hegseth to put his imprint on the military’s leadership, while squeezing out officers with track records of battlefield valor and command experience in favor of less accomplished political loyalists, officers that fully support both himself and President Trump.
Bosnia winning earlier so getting 4 points was unhelpful for Scotland. Still 3 points with a not too bad goal difference -2 at worst should be ok to get through top 8 of 3rd place teams.
Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals
Not stacked with confidence here
The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.
Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.
Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.
Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively
Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.
Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.
Less favourable groups for Scotland:
Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat
Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.
Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland
Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.
Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.
Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.
I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.
So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.
Agree with much of your analysis, assuming teams in group J won't muck around
4 pts = definitely through
3 points = cut off is likely to be around -3 goal diff
The wait for teams finishing on 3 points will be agonising
3 points -2 likely to be 7th/8th places
This is close to the team Scotland fans wanted to see Shankland in and Scott McKenna in defence, lets see what happens
Hmmm. Not very good so far.
He should have stuck with Hanley. Steve Clarke can't win either way
Andy Burnham is backing a proposal to scrap Council Tax and Stamp Duty, replacing them with a Proportional Property Tax (PPT).
📌 Rate: 0.48% of current property value 📌 Cap: £1,200 per year initially 📌 Supporters claim 77% of households would save an average £556 annually
A major reform if it ever gains traction. Winners and losers would depend heavily on property values and location.
Why 0.48? Why not 0.5? It's so close as to make no difference and would be easier to work out. Hope it's going to go on empty properties held as investments too.
I think it's x2 on investment, second properties etc. Should be x5
Comments
Ditto Kemi today, I'm afraid.
https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-signs-us-pax-silica-initiative-singling-out-china-on-ai-chips/
It seemed completely unnecessary.
That wasn’t his last PMQs, was it?
Andy Burnham already has some work to do to win over Donald Trump.
Trump says he is 'extremely liberal' and probably won't drill in the North Sea.
https://x.com/connorstringer/status/2069881506177175609
Trump is later asked by @beverleyturner if he would like to be the first leader Andy Burnham meets.
Trump: No.
https://x.com/connorstringer/status/2069883714817921512
@extremetemps
UNBELIEVABLE 45 DEGREES AGAIN IN FRANCE
3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS >44.5c This is INSANE !
42.2c Paris,41.1C in The Yeu Island !!!
80 all time records
290 Monthly records
Already >1000 records broken and thousands more coming.
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2069881239385899400
@extremetemps
UNBELIEVABLE 45 DEGREES AGAIN IN FRANCE
3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS >44.5c This is INSANE !
42.2c Paris,41.1C in The Yeu Island !!!
80 all time records
290 Monthly records
Already >1000 records broken and thousands more coming.
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2069881239385899400
That was not today
The voters hate Starmer. You think they reckon Kemi was ungracious and immature - or sharing their views?
https://resultadosegundavuelta.onpe.gob.pe/main/presidenciales
Wonder if the opponents who said they wouldn’t respect the result if she won will follow through.
I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs
Foxy
Being fucked over on all sorts of different fronts.
He’s a massive hypocrite
I think that it might be because he’s stupid and I have a posh voice
It got a "phwar, phwar" from the chinless wonders behind her, but totally unnecessary.
Labour’s candidate to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor has been named as Bev Craig, the leader of the city council.
Burnham, who could be prime minister in under four weeks, is expected to campaign heavily for Labour in a tight contest with Reform UK on 30 July.
As many as 2 million people will be eligible to vote in the Greater Manchester byelection, making it the biggest in modern times in British politics.
Craig, 41, has long been seen as a rising star within Labour and took over Manchester city council in 2021 at the age of 36, becoming only the third holder of the office in four decades and its first woman.
Like many council leaders, however, she remains little-known to ordinary voters. A huge publicity blitz will pitch her as continuing the work of Burnham, who won the 2024 contest with nearly two-thirds of the vote and a 351,000-vote majority.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/23/bev-craig-stand-labour-candidate-greater-manchester-mayor
I agree on the last - I am a pol and betting nerd and have never heard of her until this week.
Solar panels and a heat pump are virtually useless for heating the housing in the UK although they will work well to drive aircon.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop solar array, it generates about 3kw in full sun. Seasonal monthly production for 2024 (2025 is misleading as they had half the array down with a fault for 6 weeks).
Jan 61kwh
Feb 98kwh
Mar 252kwh
Apr 416kwh
May 506kwh
Jun 624kwh
Jul 524kwh
Aug 466kwh
Sep 274kwh
Oct 122kwh
Nov 51kwh
Dec 42kwh
Their house uses about 270kwh/month with little seasonal variation (they have gas central heating), so October to Feb they are already importing electricity to make up the shortfall.
Obviously they could fit more panels, but this is not free, they probably won't be able to export all the summer production (I'm not sure what DNO limit they have, probably 3.5kw), and at about double their present number of panels, they willl have used every inch of roof space, including some quite suboptimal bits.
They'd have to completely cover the back garden in panels run a heatpump off solar in the winter, and would also need a substantial battery as the day to day variation is considerable (anything from 0.4kwh to 2.5kwh generated per day with their current system through January - by comparison it made 25kwh today).
For example: https://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/scott-base/webcams-weather
The only people complaining about it are people who have already decided they don’t like Kemi
Trump on Mamdani: "He's a charming guy, good looking guy"
And then file a harassment complaint
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2850241
Quite a significant drop in events and in all cause mortality.
Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.
Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.
Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively
Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.
Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.
Less favourable groups for Scotland:
Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat
Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.
Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland
Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.
Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.
Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.
I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.
So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.
Brazil delenda est.
If you tell that to RFK, Jr., it will spoil his day -- which should be spoiled.
(For the record: I believe it is likely that RFK, Jr. will do more harm to the US, and the rest of the world, than his boss, the Loser. Really.)
Come back on the 15th July after Starmer's last PMQs
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/how-about-free-is-that-affordable?r=18ywu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Obviously solar works better for them than us, but we do have wind.
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/brexit-10-brexit-might-just-have-killed-the-conservative-party/
https://x.com/andyburnhamgm/status/2069865776320774551
4 pts = definitely through
3 points = cut off is likely to be around -3 goal diff
The wait for teams finishing on 3 points will be agonising
3 points -2 likely to be 7th/8th places
This is close to the team Scotland fans wanted to see Shankland in and Scott McKenna in defence, lets see what happens
It is not difficult to understand the difference
General Donahue is expected to relinquish command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa on July 2, the Army said in a statement. He plans to retire in August.
The general has long been seen as one of the Army’s rising stars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/politics/general-christopher-donahue-hegseth.html
Andy Burnham is backing a proposal to scrap Council Tax and Stamp Duty, replacing them with a Proportional Property Tax (PPT).
📌 Rate: 0.48% of current property value
📌 Cap: £1,200 per year initially
📌 Supporters claim 77% of households would save an average £556 annually
A major reform if it ever gains traction. Winners and losers would depend heavily on property values and location.
However Mrs T wasn't competing with Nigel Farage for the attention of right wing voters. It may be ugly, but is probably sound politics. And in today's world a British PM can't afford to be a pussy with monsters like Putin and Trump stalking the planet.
As BigG says, let's see what happens on 15 July.
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2069773181334773907
Only two more years and three or so months to go kids.
Scotland 0 Brasil 1
Here's the thing: your inlaws have their total electricity usafge covered for seven months of the year, with a further two months where it's a significant chunk is covered, and for three months, solar is m'eh.
And that's OK. Because that means that the UK burning essentially no natural gas or coal for 60% of the year for this house, and is seeing a decent saving on another 15%. For a quarter of the year, they still need to rely on natural gas. But that's fine because (being sensible) the UK has (or rather should) have been stockpiling and storing it.
Trump has destroyed another institution.
Why not 0.5? It's so close as to make no difference and would be easier to work out.
Hope it's going to go on empty properties held as investments too.