Oh FFS. Every single week. Week after week after week.
The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter · 53m BREAKING: Axios claims the US and Iran have agreed to stop attacking each other and meet this week in Doha, Qatar.
Of course, this comes just 1 hour before the US stock market futures open.
Following the suggestion of KCIII I expect the Scots will choose to support Canada for the rest of the tournament, given that it's another of his realms.
Britain's Emma Raducanu will not play at Wimbledon after withdrawing on the eve of her home Grand Slam tournament because of a stress fracture in her lower right leg.
Raducanu, 23, announced the decision shortly after 22:00 BST on Sunday - about seven hours after telling journalists she planned to play.
Raducanu, who is seeded 30th, was due to start her campaign on Monday against Croatia's Antonia Ruzic on Court One.
"I've done everything possible to try to get to the start line but after a final scan tonight the niggle I've been managing has developed into a stress fracture," Raducanu said.
"I've been medically advised to stop pushing through."
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Anyone can apply as long as they eat Tofu and raved the Gaurdian…
Politics UK @PolitlcsUK · 41m Mahmood will recruit hundreds of people from various different backgrounds who will be trained as adjudicators
===
This one isn't going to go horribly wrong is it? No siree.
Everything will be fine.
Forget everything else, why announce this now? We're effectively in a shortish interregnum, shouldn't she be waiting to confirm who the new boss is and what Andy thinks?
In old regeneration terms - that's about two Dr.Who's (imperial to metric allowing). If he doesn't have a proper old-time sonic screwdriver and/or dodgy cabinet console that only responds to a solid thump - he's in trouble.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Anyone can apply as long as they eat Tofu and raved the Gaurdian…
Politics UK @PolitlcsUK · 41m Mahmood will recruit hundreds of people from various different backgrounds who will be trained as adjudicators
===
This one isn't going to go horribly wrong is it? No siree.
Everything will be fine.
Forget everything else, why announce this now? We're effectively in a shortish interregnum, shouldn't she be waiting to confirm who the new boss is and what Andy thinks?
"Andy? What do you think about this?" "Aaaaa-mazing!" "Great! I'll announce it!" .... "LOL - see ya on the back benches!"
Alls well with the world . Wimbledon starts tomorrow !
There’s nothing quite like it. Im tuning out of politics and the news in general and am going into my happy tennis bubble!
Always brilliant. Absolutely in my top 5 annual sports events along with the Open, the Arc, the Crucible, and Boxing Day football.
I'd like to see Novak do 25.
Forgive my stupidity, but what's the Arc?
A big horse race in Paris. First Sunday in October. 12 furlongs, flat.
Ahhhhhh, I see, thanks. Sadly I know as much about horse racing as I do about the Old Testament, it's all Greek Hebrew to me.
You are far from alone. It's a struggling sport, sadly.
Back in the day when I worked for a company where the Directors indulged themselves, a colleague woke up after an industry do lying on the grass near a big tower, the Directors passed out around him. After the initial reaction of "what am I doing in Blackpool?", he remembered that someone had suggested going to longchamp for the Arc.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
In old regeneration terms - that's about two Dr.Who's (imperial to metric allowing). If he doesn't have a proper old-time sonic screwdriver and/or dodgy cabinet console that only responds to a solid thump - he's in trouble.
Depends. From 1970 to 1981 only two people were Dr Who: Baker T. and Pertwee. But between the 2013 anniversary special and 2025 there's been several: Tennant twice, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, Ncuti Gatwa and arguably John Hurt, Jo Martin and possibly Billie Piper. That's nine Whos in twelve years.
That's comparable to seven PMs between 2016 and 2026: Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, Burnham, or seven PMs in ten years.
It's almost like you can draw a similarity between the decay of the program and the decay of Bristish politics. But who would write such a thing...
Another morning when Russia’s on fire again, is a good morning.
Crimea seems to be getting it particularly hard today, and there’s a long queue to get out as supplies can’t get in and there’s power and water shortages.
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
I don't particularly want to defend Burnham, and I am sure he is most likely an idiot, but there are some distinctly Tirana taxi service vibes about this story.
Really disappointing for Raducanu to have to withdraw from Wimbledon .
It just seems to have been a catalogue of injuries and illness since her US Open win . Similarly with Jack Draper one has very little confidence in him maintaining a healthy body .
Last year he got as high as number 4 in the world and does have the game to trouble the very best . Now on his way back with the rankings drop he gets an awful draw against Taylor Fritz .
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
Really disappointing for Raducanu to have to withdraw from Wimbledon .
It just seems to have been a catalogue of injuries and illness since her US Open win . Similarly with Jack Draper one has very little confidence in him maintaining a healthy body .
Last year he got as high as number 4 in the world and does have the game to trouble the very best . Now on his way back with the rankings drop he gets an awful draw against Taylor Fritz .
Let’s hope Fritz has an off day !
Disappointing for her no doubt, but even if she never wins another tournament again, winning one Grand Slam is a bigger sporting achievement than most other tennis players will get in their career.
Following the suggestion of KCIII I expect the Scots will choose to support Canada for the rest of the tournament, given that it's another of his realms.
Talk is the Russians are looking to evacuate EVERYONE from Crimea.
Surely that would provoke bringing down the Bridge?
Ukraine has already told everyone to leave over the bridge.
They want the Russians all off the peninsula, and have left the bridge up for them to do so. It’s the only way off back to Russia. There’s several hundred thousand people living there, who are about to experience shortages of power and water.
Dare I suggest that, once everyone who wants to leave has left, then the bridge comes down and the Russians are forced to evacuate or supply their military by boat.
A real turning point of the war, if the enemy can no longer hold what they’ve held for 12 years already. Ukraine took out 500 vehicles on Saturday, mostly supply trucks heading through occupied Donbas regions, continuing to starve out the invaders. There’s some movement on the front lines in the South, but too early to say if the enemy is actually withdrawing.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The right seems to be dividing rather than uniting with a big new entry from Restore. However a total nasty right of at least 32% seems bad. Finally I see Cummings seems to have thrown his lot in with Restore.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
So the exec of a Big Pharma company didn't like what he heard?
Icarus is once again a candidate at a Harborough District Council election this Thursday. This time in Lutterworth (East ward). The by-election is caused by the death of a respected Labour councillor with a significant personal vote. We are fighting hard but then so are the others. I think it is close between the Liberal Democrats and Reform - my campaign manager thinks between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Icarus is once again a candidate at a Harborough District Council election this Thursday. This time in Lutterworth (East ward). The by-election is caused by the death of a respected Labour councillor with a significant personal vote. We are fighting hard but then so are the others. I think it is close between the Liberal Democrats and Reform - my campaign manager thinks between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Good morning, everyone, and good luck. Don't fly too close to the sun this time.
The right seems to be dividing rather than uniting with a big new entry from Restore. However a total nasty right of at least 32% seems bad. Finally I see Cummings seems to have thrown his lot in with Restore.
Bad poll for the rounding party. Down 3%. Which probably means Restore have got up to half of their 6% from tiny parties (I recall UKIP was still getting 1-2% unprompted until recently).
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
I was defending the internal consistency of HYUFD's te, not its veracity.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
I was defending the internal consistency of HYUFD's tale, not its veracity.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
Talk is the Russians are looking to evacuate EVERYONE from Crimea.
Surely that would provoke bringing down the Bridge?
Does that include all the "non-loyalists" (sorry - the category is crude) such as eg the people from Melitopol (I think) which has been such a resistance centre?
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
Already happens with the state pension ((assuming the pension is a benefit rather than an insurance payout from NI)
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
Because it's a 1 sentence twitter article it misses every bit of context including the all important question - what exact problem is this scheme supposed to be fixing?
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
I think the big one is meant to be tree coverage- both shade and transpiration. For example,
In the majority of cities, the hottest spots had less than 6% vegetation cover, while the coolest spots had over 70%. These were found almost entirely in parks, away from residential and commercial areas, and contributed to massive temperature swings within the cities surveyed. The Kilburn and South Hampstead area in London, with 38% vegetation cover, experienced heat over 7°C hotter than Regent’s Park with 89% vegetation cover, just a short distance away. This was reflected globally, with Madrid’s built up downtown experiencing heat almost 8°C hotter than nearby El Retiro Park.
In principle, that's pretty fixable. In practice, my road has three empty tree pits.
Which in itself wasn't a bad request. It was what he did with the first two of those 10 that was at issue.
Also fine if you set out a clear plan : this is what we'll do in the first five years (now three). This is what will be showing results by the next election, these are the things that we'll have started but you won't really see the benefits yet - but this is what the benefits will be, when they will come and how this is going to get us there.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
You’re gonna be out of a job at this rate
But seriously, would all the human rights protections that usually apply just get discarded for this kind of show trial? Wouldn’t this all get appealed up to whatever the next court is?
Labour’s attitude towards justice has been deeply worrying - whether it’s reforms to jury trials (or subversion of them), inconsistent application of insane Terrorism laws, or undermining the judiciary with stuff like this. They’ll do anything other than legislate.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
Newcastle got a metro line because the Government was desperate for a solution to the unemployment problems in Newcastle and it was a cheap fix that showed they were doing something (remember the only real expense was the airport and the tunnel through Newcastle / Gateshead.
Once built they then stopped given Nexus any money to improve things..
Edit to add - worth saying that the total cost of the Metro was only £890m in today's money.
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
I think the big one is meant to be tree coverage- both shade and transpiration. For example,
In the majority of cities, the hottest spots had less than 6% vegetation cover, while the coolest spots had over 70%. These were found almost entirely in parks, away from residential and commercial areas, and contributed to massive temperature swings within the cities surveyed. The Kilburn and South Hampstead area in London, with 38% vegetation cover, experienced heat over 7°C hotter than Regent’s Park with 89% vegetation cover, just a short distance away. This was reflected globally, with Madrid’s built up downtown experiencing heat almost 8°C hotter than nearby El Retiro Park.
In principle, that's pretty fixable. In practice, my road has three empty tree pits.
Only by appealing to the mercy of Demeter shall we be spared the wrath of Helios!
[On a less melodramatic note, a large initiative to increase tree coverage seems like a rather good idea].
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
I think the big one is meant to be tree coverage- both shade and transpiration. For example,
In the majority of cities, the hottest spots had less than 6% vegetation cover, while the coolest spots had over 70%. These were found almost entirely in parks, away from residential and commercial areas, and contributed to massive temperature swings within the cities surveyed. The Kilburn and South Hampstead area in London, with 38% vegetation cover, experienced heat over 7°C hotter than Regent’s Park with 89% vegetation cover, just a short distance away. This was reflected globally, with Madrid’s built up downtown experiencing heat almost 8°C hotter than nearby El Retiro Park.
In principle, that's pretty fixable. In practice, my road has three empty tree pits.
Only by appealing to the mercy of Demeter shall we be spared the wrath of Helios!
[On a less melodramatic note, a large initiative to increase tree coverage seems like a rather good idea].
The problem is it relies on people like me going out with a watering can and looking after the saplings. Any funding for them had to include a long term maintenance element, otherwise local councils will let most of them die.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
Because it's a 1 sentence twitter article it misses every bit of context including the all important question - what exact problem is this scheme supposed to be fixing?
If the policy had been first surfaced in Parliament me might have known all this useful context.
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
You’re gonna be out of a job at this rate
But seriously, would all the human rights protections that usually apply just get discarded for this kind of show trial? Wouldn’t this all get appealed up to whatever the next court is?
Labour’s attitude towards justice has been deeply worrying - whether it’s reforms to jury trials (or subversion of them), inconsistent application of insane Terrorism laws, or undermining the judiciary with stuff like this. They’ll do anything other than legislate.
Where the tweet says “members of the public”, what is meant is basically magistrates, but they get paid.
Some startling commentary from one of Tommy Robinson's associated "vicars" * on the Makerfield byelection.
Apparently we have an "Islamo-Communist Government", and it is getting worse. He's overdoing his quote mining of the Bible - Andy Burnham appearing at the announcement next to a "Protect Wildlife" candidate in a fox costume leads him to make a comparison with King Herod (for whom there is a Gospel refence to Jesus calling "that fox"). He says there was "hardly any resistance" at the byelection, which is a stretch.
Here's a deep link to the segment. He is walking around Parliament Square in the sun and probably needs to get a more observant editor, unless he left the "knicker bombing" (which I have not seen before) in deliberately. I think that is unlikely for a pastor who probably wants to be seen as respectable.
* This is a chap called Chris Wickland, who has appeared at several TR rallies, and is a minister in the "Confessing Anglican Church" (I think that is up to date), which is a group regarding the Anglican Communion as Apostate (the English CofE Bishops are a "nest of vipers"), and is associated with people such as Bishop Ceirion Dewar.
Politically, I think they will align mainly with Restore Britain.
Almost certainly the stopped clock effect considering the persons concerned, but it's difficult to disagree with the assertion that the CofE House of Bishops is a brood of vipers. Frankly, the vipers should sue for defamation of their character.
Thanks for the comment. AIUI "nest of vipers" language was documented in Cromwellian politics.
Unfortunately the Ecclesiastical Courts lost jurisdiction over defamation and slander cases under the "Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act" of 1860 !!! (says wikipedia). That is the same Act that affirms a Churchwarden's Power of Arrest of "anyone who is riotous, violent, indecent, or disturbing authorized clergy during a service or within the churchyard" (churchyard doggers, take note).
I try to take a more phlegmatic view of the House of Bishops. I've more or less followed this for 4+ decades, and the opponents are always saying the same things. The constancy imo is more the existence of the opposition, and the available allusions, rather than in the current members of the House of Bishops.
I think Rev Wickland got a bit carried away with his biblical allusions (and there was a lot more rhetoric than I quoted), which imo can be great as principles but break down if one tries to be too precise about comparisons. Rhetoric in a sermon is great and can be motivating, but go too far and that way imo lies the practice of predicting the date of the second coming, or viewing Genesis as a history book. The Jehovah's Witnesses got the second coming wrong about 5 times, yet they are still here (not having been raptured), and seem to have stopped trying.
There was a spate of similar language around the famous Bishop of Durham incident, and also around the decision to accept women as priests in 1992. And currently around gay marriage.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
London's Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines are still running trains built before the North East Metro even opened. But yes, that does not mean new rolling stock is not needed.
It would be nice if Burnham's plans include new towns away from London, as well as just increasing regional budgets. His overall direction is correct though. Britain is centralised around London to a degree unparalleled in any of our peer nations. This is absurd and unsustainable.
Icarus is once again a candidate at a Harborough District Council election this Thursday. This time in Lutterworth (East ward). The by-election is caused by the death of a respected Labour councillor with a significant personal vote. We are fighting hard but then so are the others. I think it is close between the Liberal Democrats and Reform - my campaign manager thinks between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Good morning, everyone, and good luck. Don't fly too close to the sun this time.
Spending time with murdoch tarnishes everyone it’s true
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
Yes, different cities have different scales of heat island. The main effect is at night, in clear still weather, so the biggest heat islands are in cities in cold but sunny climates in sheltered basins. I think there's one somewhere in Canada that's recorded something like a 25C effect on a spring night.
Greener cities have smaller effects too. The greening of East London in recent decades due to Docklands redevelopment has reduced the heat island along the Estuary. Paris has the big problem of a very dense central city with little greenery and lots of stone surfaces, as well as being on average less windy than London. Hence its summer nights are that much warmer
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
You’re gonna be out of a job at this rate
But seriously, would all the human rights protections that usually apply just get discarded for this kind of show trial? Wouldn’t this all get appealed up to whatever the next court is?
Labour’s attitude towards justice has been deeply worrying - whether it’s reforms to jury trials (or subversion of them), inconsistent application of insane Terrorism laws, or undermining the judiciary with stuff like this. They’ll do anything other than legislate.
Where the tweet says “members of the public”, what is meant is basically magistrates, but they get paid.
Two tier justice will be replaced by one single tier. Someone in Labour must be trolling.
Currently it's First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) and then the Upper Tier but it will be replace by the single tier Independent Immigration Appeals Authority.
I hope Andy does turn out to be the Messiah or Nick Robinson and the Today team are going to be left with a fair bit of egg on their face. The Vice Chancellor of Manchester University with an appealing Canadian twang gave him an endorsement that no amount of money could buy
NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers
Presumably their training is going to involve 3-4 years at University getting an LLB and then post graduate training and experience? What an utterly bizarre idea.
You’re gonna be out of a job at this rate
But seriously, would all the human rights protections that usually apply just get discarded for this kind of show trial? Wouldn’t this all get appealed up to whatever the next court is?
Labour’s attitude towards justice has been deeply worrying - whether it’s reforms to jury trials (or subversion of them), inconsistent application of insane Terrorism laws, or undermining the judiciary with stuff like this. They’ll do anything other than legislate.
Where the tweet says “members of the public”, what is meant is basically magistrates, but they get paid.
Two tier justice will be replaced by one single tier. Someone in Labour must be trolling.
Currently it's First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) and then the Upper Tier but it will be replace by the single tier Independent Immigration Appeals Authority.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
London's Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines are still running trains built before the North East Metro even opened. But yes, that does not mean new rolling stock is not needed.
It would be nice if Burnham's plans include new towns away from London, as well as just increasing regional budgets. His overall direction is correct though. Britain is centralised around London to a degree unparalleled in any of our peer nations. This is absurd and unsustainable.
Depends who you count as a peer nation. Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Czechia, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Norway etc. are all similarly or more centralised around their capital cities. But, OK, they’re all smaller countries. However, then there’s Japan, which has a similar concentration in Tokyo and is a considerably bigger population than the UK.
"France blames US for deadly heatwave Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
Is it fair to characterise that as a shift from one character of climate to another? A UK equivalent may eventually a move from a temperate climate to whatever-it-would-be-called if we lose the buffering benefits of the Gulf Stream.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
Yes, different cities have different scales of heat island. The main effect is at night, in clear still weather, so the biggest heat islands are in cities in cold but sunny climates in sheltered basins. I think there's one somewhere in Canada that's recorded something like a 25C effect on a spring night.
Greener cities have smaller effects too. The greening of East London in recent decades due to Docklands redevelopment has reduced the heat island along the Estuary. Paris has the big problem of a very dense central city with little greenery and lots of stone surfaces, as well as being on average less windy than London. Hence its summer nights are that much warmer
iirc London Mayor Sadiq Khan (the best mayor!) is already working to increase London's green spaces to improve air quality and climate resilience.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
London's Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines are still running trains built before the North East Metro even opened. But yes, that does not mean new rolling stock is not needed.
It would be nice if Burnham's plans include new towns away from London, as well as just increasing regional budgets. His overall direction is correct though. Britain is centralised around London to a degree unparalleled in any of our peer nations. This is absurd and unsustainable.
New rolling stock is being produced for the Piccadilly line.
You’re hopecasting here. If Burnham can unite the left he could conceivably win another election against a divided right without performing brilliantly.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
Newcastle got a metro line because the Government was desperate for a solution to the unemployment problems in Newcastle and it was a cheap fix that showed they were doing something (remember the only real expense was the airport and the tunnel through Newcastle / Gateshead.
Once built they then stopped given Nexus any money to improve things..
Edit to add - worth saying that the total cost of the Metro was only £890m in today's money.
Where else would a Newcastle metro line go? I suppose you could send it west along the river but the track and copper would be stolen as fast as you could lay it .
Alls well with the world . Wimbledon starts tomorrow !
There’s nothing quite like it. Im tuning out of politics and the news in general and am going into my happy tennis bubble!
Always brilliant. Absolutely in my top 5 annual sports events along with the Open, the Arc, the Crucible, and Boxing Day football.
I'd like to see Novak do 25.
Forgive my stupidity, but what's the Arc?
I've got Noah idea.
So you can't give me the genesis of an idea?
Too much punning and we risk seeing an Exodus from PB.
I'm just going through the Numbers
Rain it in please.
Are we going to get a flood of puns?
No, just two by two at a time.
What about the animals that went in seven by seven?
They were going to St Ives
But also into the ark. No-one notices the bit in the Noah story about taking seven pairs of ritually clean animals into the ark rather than 2 by 2, it is IIRC in Genesis chapter 7.
Question for the PB board: Are elephants ritually unclean?
You’re hopecasting here. If Burnham can unite the left he could conceivably win another election against a divided right without performing brilliantly.
The majority is too big to probably be overturned in one go. Could be wrong, but it seems probable they will get another turn.
10 would require two more GE victories and that is far less likely than 1 more.
Starmer overturned a Boris mini-landslide with an even bigger one of his own in one parliament. Labour could easily drop 150-200+ seats in one hit.
There are no rules.
They could, agreed. I said as much.
What could happen and what is probable are not necessarily the same though.
Losing a majority of this size in one term is possible, but not likely, IMHO.
It required some incredibly bad government (Boris's ethics, Truss's everything) and incredibly bad luck (COVID and the global consequences of Ukraine).
However poor the government has been since 2024, it's not been as bad as that.
The trails of Burnham's speech have all been about a register of talk - devolved regional powers, ten year plans - a million miles from the ordinary voter who might want a hospital appointment or good quality social housing in the summer of 2026.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
London's Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines are still running trains built before the North East Metro even opened. But yes, that does not mean new rolling stock is not needed.
It would be nice if Burnham's plans include new towns away from London, as well as just increasing regional budgets. His overall direction is correct though. Britain is centralised around London to a degree unparalleled in any of our peer nations. This is absurd and unsustainable.
New rolling stock is being produced for the Piccadilly line.
And there are political reasons why the Bakerloo line trains haven’t been replaced..
You’re hopecasting here. If Burnham can unite the left he could conceivably win another election against a divided right without performing brilliantly.
Burnham has gone silent.
If he had a plan theme what would be happening now is he would be touring the country communicating the basis of his plan, alongside local MPs, to the public. He would be building a sense of optimism and purpose, and understanding of what needed to be done to turn the country around.
Instead he's disappeared, apparently because he has to work out what to do when he does become PM.
I think it's fair to make the judgement from this that by the time of the next election the voters will conclude that he has failed, that he will continue to fail, and so they need to turn elsewhere for answers.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
Newcastle got a metro line because the Government was desperate for a solution to the unemployment problems in Newcastle and it was a cheap fix that showed they were doing something (remember the only real expense was the airport and the tunnel through Newcastle / Gateshead.
Once built they then stopped given Nexus any money to improve things..
Edit to add - worth saying that the total cost of the Metro was only £890m in today's money.
Where else would a Newcastle metro line go? I suppose you could send it west along the river but the track and copper would be stolen as fast as you could lay it .
Yeah because we’re all criminal peasants up here 🙄
It is currently being extended and three new stops added in Washington.
Heard an anecdote today from a former chauffeur who was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham. Said he came back from the meeting and said 'that man hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
We will see if there is more to Burnham than the likeable northern chappy image, we must hope the Roche chair was wrong
Was this chauffeur Albanian by chance?
No Jewish ex East End
Isn't Roche a Swiss pharmaceutical company with a Swiss board, based in Switzerland? What is an East End chauffeur doing there? The East End of Geneva?
..was driving the chairman of Roche to a meeting with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham..
Well there we have it then. Anonymous poster quotes anonymous driver’s report of pharmaceutical’s exec’s assessment that Burnham, successful mayor of Britain’s second largest city ‘hasn't got a clue what he is talking about and is out of his depth.'
The leaks so far suggest that is the case, borrow more and increase taxes is a recipe for disaster. We will soon have no billionaires and millionaires left in the country and then the fcukwits who think taxing success and promoting sponging will find out what happens when you F*** about. Then they can tax benefits to pay for the benefits.
For 40 years the country has invested in London to the expense of elsewhere - which means that London is now wealthy than elsewhere and so pays slightly more in tax (argument then goes that wealth could pay more tax).
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
London also attracts, as a consequence, young people from all over the country. So the regions pay to educate young people only for them to move.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
Newcastle got a metro line because the Government was desperate for a solution to the unemployment problems in Newcastle and it was a cheap fix that showed they were doing something (remember the only real expense was the airport and the tunnel through Newcastle / Gateshead.
Once built they then stopped given Nexus any money to improve things..
Edit to add - worth saying that the total cost of the Metro was only £890m in today's money.
Where else would a Newcastle metro line go? I suppose you could send it west along the river but the track and copper would be stolen as fast as you could lay it .
Also being pedantic it’s the Tyne and Wear Metro as it services Sunderland, South Shields, North Shields and Gateshead too
Comments
The Hormuz Letter
@HormuzLetter
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53m
BREAKING: Axios claims the US and Iran have agreed to stop attacking each other and meet this week in Doha, Qatar.
Of course, this comes just 1 hour before the US stock market futures open.
@PolitlcsUK
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41m
Mahmood will recruit hundreds of people from various different backgrounds who will be trained as adjudicators
===
This one isn't going to go horribly wrong is it? No siree.
Everything will be fine.
Didn’t Starmer want 10 years, too?
It's an absolutely dreadful idea.
That's comparable to seven PMs between 2016 and 2026: Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, Burnham, or seven PMs in ten years.
It's almost like you can draw a similarity between the decay of the program and the decay of Bristish politics. But who would write such a thing...
Christopher Eccleston should be the Doctor again.
https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/david-miliband-being-considered-for-senior-job-in-burnham-cabinet
Crimea seems to be getting it particularly hard today, and there’s a long queue to get out as supplies can’t get in and there’s power and water shortages.
Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures" (£)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/28/france-blames-us-for-deadly-heatwave/?recomm_id=073f9437-16aa-465c-866d-398a2d821800
Just leave law to the legal people and if there’s a problem change the law.
How practical it might be is a good question.
https://x.com/propeertys/status/2071319459285852453
Choo choo!
It just seems to have been a catalogue of injuries and illness since her US Open win . Similarly with Jack Draper one has very little confidence in him maintaining a healthy body .
Last year he got as high as number 4 in the world and does have the game to trouble the very best . Now on his way back with the rankings drop he gets an awful draw against Taylor Fritz .
Let’s hope Fritz has an off day !
Surely that would provoke bringing down the Bridge?
And if they did that, could Ukraine feasibly amphibiously land?
They want the Russians all off the peninsula, and have left the bridge up for them to do so. It’s the only way off back to Russia. There’s several hundred thousand people living there, who are about to experience shortages of power and water.
Dare I suggest that, once everyone who wants to leave has left, then the bridge comes down and the Russians are forced to evacuate or supply their military by boat.
A real turning point of the war, if the enemy can no longer hold what they’ve held for 12 years already. Ukraine took out 500 vehicles on Saturday, mostly supply trucks heading through occupied Donbas regions, continuing to starve out the invaders. There’s some movement on the front lines in the South, but too early to say if the enemy is actually withdrawing.
RFM: 26% (-1)
LAB: 21% (+1)
CON: 17% (-1)
LDM: 12% (=)
GRN: 12% (-2)
RES: 6% (New)
SNP: 3% (=)
Opinium Research
The right seems to be dividing rather than uniting with a big new entry from Restore. However a total nasty right of at least 32% seems bad. Finally I see Cummings seems to have thrown his lot in with Restore.
We are fighting hard but then so are the others. I think it is close between the Liberal Democrats and Reform - my campaign manager thinks between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Which probably means Restore have got up to half of their 6% from tiny parties (I recall UKIP was still getting 1-2% unprompted until recently).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhiWncWCP6w
Do we know how many of them are left in Crimea?
Burnham's viewpoint is that the regions outside London should have the ability and that the Treasury stops that (he's right there). So given mayors actual money and power (which completely removes the Treasury from blocking things) makes perfect sense.
My test is actually very simple, go around Europe and all cities over 500,000 will have a fixed transport (Tram / Metro) system and most UK cities don't.
And as a serious question, do we have any evidence of different cities having differing extents of the "heat island" effect?
(In my head the effect I would look for would be transport modal shift, but I'm not sure how significant that is in the overall mix, and compared to statistical noise in such a small and variable sample of cities.)
It was what he did with the first two of those 10 that was at issue.
London paying more tax helps redress that.
Having a metro is fine, as in the case of the North East, but the development of it has been poor and the rolling stock flogged to death before being replaced yet London has had new rolling stock on most of the underground.
https://x.com/dennismhogan/status/2071390124563202502
https://www.arup.com/news/londons-most-extreme-urban-heat-island-hot-spot-compared-to-five-other-global-cities-in-new-survey/
In the majority of cities, the hottest spots had less than 6% vegetation cover, while the coolest spots had over 70%. These were found almost entirely in parks, away from residential and commercial areas, and contributed to massive temperature swings within the cities surveyed. The Kilburn and South Hampstead area in London, with 38% vegetation cover, experienced heat over 7°C hotter than Regent’s Park with 89% vegetation cover, just a short distance away. This was reflected globally, with Madrid’s built up downtown experiencing heat almost 8°C hotter than nearby El Retiro Park.
In principle, that's pretty fixable. In practice, my road has three empty tree pits.
But seriously, would all the human rights protections that usually apply just get discarded for this kind of show trial? Wouldn’t this all get appealed up to whatever the next court is?
Labour’s attitude towards justice has been deeply worrying - whether it’s reforms to jury trials (or subversion of them), inconsistent application of insane Terrorism laws, or undermining the judiciary with stuff like this. They’ll do anything other than legislate.
Once built they then stopped given Nexus any money to improve things..
Edit to add - worth saying that the total cost of the Metro was only £890m in today's money.
[On a less melodramatic note, a large initiative to increase tree coverage seems like a rather good idea].
Unfortunately the Ecclesiastical Courts lost jurisdiction over defamation and slander cases under the "Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act" of 1860 !!! (says wikipedia). That is the same Act that affirms a Churchwarden's Power of Arrest of "anyone who is riotous, violent, indecent, or disturbing authorized clergy during a service or within the churchyard" (churchyard doggers, take note).
I try to take a more phlegmatic view of the House of Bishops. I've more or less followed this for 4+ decades, and the opponents are always saying the same things. The constancy imo is more the existence of the opposition, and the available allusions, rather than in the current members of the House of Bishops.
I think Rev Wickland got a bit carried away with his biblical allusions (and there was a lot more rhetoric than I quoted), which imo can be great as principles but break down if one tries to be too precise about comparisons. Rhetoric in a sermon is great and can be motivating, but go too far and that way imo lies the practice of predicting the date of the second coming, or viewing Genesis as a history book. The Jehovah's Witnesses got the second coming wrong about 5 times, yet they are still here (not having been raptured), and seem to have stopped trying.
There was a spate of similar language around the famous Bishop of Durham incident, and also around the decision to accept women as priests in 1992. And currently around gay marriage.
It would be nice if Burnham's plans include new towns away from London, as well as just increasing regional budgets. His overall direction is correct though. Britain is centralised around London to a degree unparalleled in any of our peer nations. This is absurd and unsustainable.
Greener cities have smaller effects too. The greening of East London in recent decades due to Docklands redevelopment has reduced the heat island along the Estuary. Paris has the big problem of a very dense central city with little greenery and lots of stone surfaces, as well as being on average less windy than London. Hence its summer nights are that much warmer
Currently it's First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) and then the Upper Tier but it will be replace by the single tier Independent Immigration Appeals Authority.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/asylum-seeker-cases-appeals-mahmood-home-secretary-b3004748.html
I suppose you could send it west along the river but the track and copper would be stolen as fast as you could lay it .
The majority is too big to probably be overturned in one go. Could be wrong, but it seems probable they will get another turn.
10 would require two more GE victories and that is far less likely than 1 more.
Question for the PB board: Are elephants ritually unclean?
There are no rules.
What could happen and what is probable are not necessarily the same though.
Losing a majority of this size in one term is possible, but not likely, IMHO.
PS Found it. It's Genesis 7.2. One of the bible's many overlooked verses.
However poor the government has been since 2024, it's not been as bad as that.
So is he going to reduce energy costs, reduce employment taxes, reduce welfare, reduce regulation ?
No, apparently he's going 'to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs'.
In the real world, substance is required, not vacuous catchphrases.
If he had a plan theme what would be happening now is he would be touring the country communicating the basis of his plan, alongside local MPs, to the public. He would be building a sense of optimism and purpose, and understanding of what needed to be done to turn the country around.
Instead he's disappeared, apparently because he has to work out what to do when he does become PM.
I think it's fair to make the judgement from this that by the time of the next election the voters will conclude that he has failed, that he will continue to fail, and so they need to turn elsewhere for answers.
It is currently being extended and three new stops added in Washington.
NECA have also proposed further development