This is where Kemi could score if she only stopped trying to be one of the establishment and a Reform Ultra
A Sky article describes here as Burger Flipper - Burger Flipper to PM is a great story.
She was also brought up on the mean streets of Lagos as part of the Nigerian diaspora (a big voting bloc).
She had a real job as a "script kiddie" and web designer. I won't use the term "code monkey" as it could be misinterpreted but it was a real modern job in comparison to those that came through the Conservative research department.
And she is a birthright citizen, one of the last after the UK changed its laws to remove that form of citizenship.
So she could portray herself as definitely not the establishment and yet fails to use her advantages against the old school Tories in Reform. That's why Kemi is a dud.
Kemi's not a dud - she polls consistently better than the Tories as a whole. And I think she does quite a nice job of portraying herself as a bit unusual but still sane. The missing bit is any reason to vote Tory, other than habit. Can we think of one important feature of life that would probably get better for ordinary people under the Tories?
No Stamp Duty
You may as well say no income tax unless you say what you'll replace it with. And why didn't they do this in previous decades of power?
They won't replace it with anything, they will cut the welfare bill unlike Labour
Same question - Why should anyone believe that, when you have said that for decades now, and haven't been able to do so despite long periods of power and major re-organisations of welfare?
It's nonsense, you may as well promise some bigger nonsense than this small nonsense.
Kemi would restore the 2 child benefit cap for starters Labour ended
I should say I do not consider it sustainable and at some time it will need to be means tested
Means testing will just result in people not saving for their retirement.Why would you bother if only those who don't bother will get it? The simple answer is a) end the triple lock: pensions to increase only with inflation, and b) continue to gradually increaae the retirement age.
The future of the state pension should be a priority for all politicians as the cost is now unsustainable and unfair to those working
Increasing retirement age to 70 and beyond is one solution, as is looking at just who is receiving it and their actual income level in retirement
None of this is easy, but ultimately it will be forced on politicians to address the issue
70 year olds in offices, maybe,
70 year old scaffolders?
This has always been an issue with construction trades, plenty are too unfit to he on the tools, or at least to compete with youngsters, from 50 onwards.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Somebody needs to give this chap a lesson in humility or is it humiliation?
Thames Water boss says he ‘deserves’ £1m salary
Environment Secretary says chief executive’s ‘outrageous’ pay rise ‘flies in the face of basic fairness’
The boss of Thames Water has defended a pay rise to nearly £1m, saying he “deserved” it.
The water company’s annual report shows Chris Weston has received two pay rises since joining the struggling utilities giant. His basic salary rose by nearly 14pc to £995,000 as of April.
Mr Weston received the pay rise as Thames Water battles to avoid nationalisation. The company’s debts swelled to £18.5bn in the 12 months to the end of March and Thames warned it only had enough funding to see it through to the end of the year.
It also failed to hit environmental targets.
Asked about the salary increase, Mr Weston said: “[The board] offered it to me. I accepted. I absolutely think the pay rise is deserved.
“At Thames, we have to be able to attract the right quality of talent and experience to be able to run and lead a company in an extremely difficult situation.”
Well, I've been bombarded with Thames Water text messages in recent weeks ordering me to save water, so perhaps that wonderful innovation is due to him.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
A burglary gone wrong was probably the likeliest scenario, right up to the point they realised the suspect had driven from Rotherham and back
I’m sorry but a burglar at a county house / farm does drive in and the one who broke into our house was a single person.
Farage is an idiot believe that someone is going to park a distance away, they want their car by the door for convenience and a quick getaway
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
He’s a relative moderate on the subject, by Argentinian standards. By most measures he’s been a force for good in the country since he first took office.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
A burglary gone wrong was probably the likeliest scenario, right up to the point they realised the suspect had driven from Rotherham and back
I’m sorry but a burglar at a county house / farm does drive in and the one who broke into our house was a single person.
Farage is an idiot believe that someone is going to park a distance away, they want their car by the door for convenience and a quick getaway
Farage isn't an idiot.
But I wouldn't be surprised if he thought that his fan club were idiots.
Just checked the figures. Since the triple lock was introduced, Inflation has been applied 5 times, increase in earnings 8 times, the 2.5% minimum twice, and in 2022/23 it was suspended, and inflation was used instead of earnings because wages had been artificially inflated by the unwind of the COVID furlough scheme. So, to those of you who want to scrap the triple lock, which bit(s) do you want to scrap?
Either tie it to CPI. like almost all private pensions nowadays (either directly as DB or via an index linked annuity from a DC), or link it to earnings.
Set a ceiling in terms of percentage* of GDP and then vary the qualification age and rate to keep below that ceiling.
* You can define the ceiling in terms of a five-year average of GDP so that you don't have to cut it as soon as there's a recession.
I think the point has been missed re the Farage comment. Whatever you might think of the logic of what Farage has said, why were the police and Starmer (!) speculating on what may or may not have happened?
Well she's going to be on the back benches next week
And one piece of advice is to reverse her employer NI changes as that and the minimum wage is stopping anyone from employing people unless they have to.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
Good to know Farage's skill set includes how to burgle...
I should say I do not consider it sustainable and at some time it will need to be means tested
Means testing will just result in people not saving for their retirement.Why would you bother if only those who don't bother will get it? The simple answer is a) end the triple lock: pensions to increase only with inflation, and b) continue to gradually increaae the retirement age.
As with rather too many benefits, the problem is it's not taxable.
Make them taxable and then the problem reduces.
Of course, the tax system is run by idiots as well, and there are all sorts of problems with it as Angela Rayner can explain, but that's a reason to sort out the tax system not to keep benefits outside it.
What's not taxable? Pensions are taxed income, but because it's the first £12,500 someone receives no tax is paid on it.
To be frank the biggest problem with any discussion about pensions is that most of the population haven't the first clue about what actually goes on..
It's not taxed at source, although to be fair that system gets messed up as well.
So we have a rather odd loophole where if you're not required to complete a self assessment you don't have to pay tax on it.
It's not taxed at source yet but that's only because it's below the threshold. That change will be coming next April because the pension will be above the threshold so DWP will be doing a tiny amount of work to work out what needs to be paid to HMRC and reducing the pension payment to reflect it.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Don’t let bond markets pick your chancellor… by letting bond markets constrain your choice of chancellor.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
Good to know Farage's skill set includes how to burgle...
Good to know he has an honest career and skills to fall back on.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Why didn't they invade after 98?
They don’t have the military capabilities.
They're getting F-16s this year, I think.
Cannot land an invasion force via F-16s though.
It might lead them to believe they can take out our air defence, which is the practical first step to being able to do so. If there isn't an SSN in the vicinity, then it's not completely impossible.
Foolhardy, and ultimately pointless anyway, but not impossible.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Britain isn't really in a position where it can afford to pay higher interest on its debt, and borrowing less is obviously a fine objective, but it's easier said than done.
If you can keep the bond market happy it gives you a bit more room to sort out everything else, which is a hard enough task without having to spend another few tens of billions of pounds on increased debt interest every year.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Why didn't they invade after 98?
They don’t have the military capabilities.
They're getting F-16s this year, I think.
Cannot land an invasion force via F-16s though.
It might lead them to believe they can take out our air defence, which is the practical first step to being able to do so. If there isn't an SSN in the vicinity, then it's not completely impossible.
Foolhardy, and ultimately pointless anyway, but not impossible.
We’ve got the ultimate deterrent though.
We can make Buenos Aires the hottest place in the world.
Just checked the figures. Since the triple lock was introduced, Inflation has been applied 5 times, increase in earnings 8 times, the 2.5% minimum twice, and in 2022/23 it was suspended, and inflation was used instead of earnings because wages had been artificially inflated by the unwind of the COVID furlough scheme. So, to those of you who want to scrap the triple lock, which bit(s) do you want to scrap?
The ratchett.
Pick any one, earnings OR inflation OR a fixed amount and stick with that.
I think the point has been missed re the Farage comment. Whatever you might think of the logic of what Farage has said, why were the police and Starmer (!) speculating on what may or may not have happened?
And why were they telling Farage about it, which was only going to fuel the rumour mill?
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Why didn't they invade after 98?
They don’t have the military capabilities.
They're getting F-16s this year, I think.
Cannot land an invasion force via F-16s though.
It might lead them to believe they can take out our air defence, which is the practical first step to being able to do so. If there isn't an SSN in the vicinity, then it's not completely impossible.
Foolhardy, and ultimately pointless anyway, but not impossible.
We’ve got the ultimate deterrent though.
We can make Buenos Aires the hottest place in the world.
They know we'd never use it though. So it's not really much of a deterrent.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Why didn't they invade after 98?
They don’t have the military capabilities.
They're getting F-16s this year, I think.
Cannot land an invasion force via F-16s though.
It might lead them to believe they can take out our air defence, which is the practical first step to being able to do so. If there isn't an SSN in the vicinity, then it's not completely impossible.
Foolhardy, and ultimately pointless anyway, but not impossible.
We’ve got the ultimate deterrent though.
We can make Buenos Aires the hottest place in the world.
Evidently not a credible deterrent, as it didn't work back in the 80s.
I'm not saying it will happen, or is even likely, but it's also a possibility which can't be completely dismissed.
It was an interesting tactic by the PM to have X, Y and Z in the gallery as present evidence for the successes he was declaring, an acknowledgement for the people invited, and making it a bit more sticky for KB to come back with something attacking.
I could see Burnham's style using something like that.
Lovely final exchange between Starmer and Kemi and great credit to both of them
I thought it drivel and turned it off. It’s drivel because it’s wholly false in how they think and feel about each other. We were being fed a charade - nothing real.
Meanwhile, Burnham’s destruction of Labour as election winning force begins…
This is where Kemi could score if she only stopped trying to be one of the establishment and a Reform Ultra
A Sky article describes here as Burger Flipper - Burger Flipper to PM is a great story.
She was also brought up on the mean streets of Lagos as part of the Nigerian diaspora (a big voting bloc).
She had a real job as a "script kiddie" and web designer. I won't use the term "code monkey" as it could be misinterpreted but it was a real modern job in comparison to those that came through the Conservative research department.
And she is a birthright citizen, one of the last after the UK changed its laws to remove that form of citizenship.
So she could portray herself as definitely not the establishment and yet fails to use her advantages against the old school Tories in Reform. That's why Kemi is a dud.
Kemi's not a dud - she polls consistently better than the Tories as a whole. And I think she does quite a nice job of portraying herself as a bit unusual but still sane. The missing bit is any reason to vote Tory, other than habit. Can we think of one important feature of life that would probably get better for ordinary people under the Tories?
No Stamp Duty
You may as well say no income tax unless you say what you'll replace it with. And why didn't they do this in previous decades of power?
They won't replace it with anything, they will cut the welfare bill unlike Labour
Same question - Why should anyone believe that, when you have said that for decades now, and haven't been able to do so despite long periods of power and major re-organisations of welfare?
It's nonsense, you may as well promise some bigger nonsense than this small nonsense.
Kemi would restore the 2 child benefit cap for starters Labour ended
Because she like child poverty?
She actually likes baby eating, but the compassionate wing needs to be kept onside for now.
Badenoch can be very engaging. It is a shame she proposes Reform bollocks like leaving the ECHR.
Yeah it would be absolutely awful being in the same category as nation's like Carney's Canada or Albanese's Australia.
They are not in Europe you geographical donut. Russia and Belarus are better examples.
I actually don't think we should leave the ECHR but your answer is stupid. The point BB is making is that Canada and Australua are able to maintain a high standard of human rights wven though they are not in the ECHR. Indeed both rank significantly higher than the UK.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
Badenoch can be very engaging. It is a shame she proposes Reform bollocks like leaving the ECHR.
Yeah it would be absolutely awful being in the same category as nation's like Carney's Canada or Albanese's Australia.
They are not in Europe you geographical donut. Russia and Belarus are better examples.
I actually don't think we should leave the ECHR but your answer is stupid. The point BB is making is that Canada and Australua are able to maintain a high standard of human rights wven though they are not in the ECHR. Indeed both rank significantly higher than the UK.
Badenoch can be very engaging. It is a shame she proposes Reform bollocks like leaving the ECHR.
Yeah it would be absolutely awful being in the same category as nation's like Carney's Canada or Albanese's Australia.
They are not in Europe you geographical donut. Russia and Belarus are better examples.
I actually don't think we should leave the ECHR but your answer is stupid. The point BB is making is that Canada and Australia are able to maintain a high standard of human rights even though they are not in the ECHR. Indeed both rank significantly higher than the UK.
I'm not entirely convinced that those advocating leaving the ECHR are doing so for the purpose of improving our standards of human rights, though.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
The Falklands is also near the limit of the F-16s operational range, I think, without inflight refuelling ?
It would be a massive gamble at very unfavourable odds.
We should ally with Argentina to get the oil out. We may as well go halves I think. Give them something to salve their national pride - I don't know what. Build them some islands and call it The Malvinas.
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
The Falklands is also near the limit of the F-16s operational range, I think, without inflight refuelling ?
It would be a massive gamble at very unfavourable odds.
We should ally with Argentina to get the oil out. We may as well go halves I think. Give them something to salve their national pride - I don't know what. Build them some islands and call it The Malvinas.
Cameron proposed exactly that in 2010 but Argentina said they wanted everything and would not negotiate
Somebody needs to give this chap a lesson in humility or is it humiliation?
Thames Water boss says he ‘deserves’ £1m salary
Environment Secretary says chief executive’s ‘outrageous’ pay rise ‘flies in the face of basic fairness’
The boss of Thames Water has defended a pay rise to nearly £1m, saying he “deserved” it.
The water company’s annual report shows Chris Weston has received two pay rises since joining the struggling utilities giant. His basic salary rose by nearly 14pc to £995,000 as of April.
Mr Weston received the pay rise as Thames Water battles to avoid nationalisation. The company’s debts swelled to £18.5bn in the 12 months to the end of March and Thames warned it only had enough funding to see it through to the end of the year.
It also failed to hit environmental targets.
Asked about the salary increase, Mr Weston said: “[The board] offered it to me. I accepted. I absolutely think the pay rise is deserved.
“At Thames, we have to be able to attract the right quality of talent and experience to be able to run and lead a company in an extremely difficult situation.”
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
Badenoch can be very engaging. It is a shame she proposes Reform bollocks like leaving the ECHR.
Yeah it would be absolutely awful being in the same category as nation's like Carney's Canada or Albanese's Australia.
They are not in Europe you geographical donut. Russia and Belarus are better examples.
I actually don't think we should leave the ECHR but your answer is stupid. The point BB is making is that Canada and Australia are able to maintain a high standard of human rights even though they are not in the ECHR. Indeed both rank significantly higher than the UK.
I'm not entirely convinced that those advocating leaving the ECHR are doing so for the purpose of improving our standards of human rights, though.
Like I said I don't yhink we should leave. But it is undoubtedly the case that many countries that we consider standard bearers for human rights have laws in place that would not be permitted under the ECHR.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
Leaving 2 years after winning a 170 seat majority is still very surprising.
Considering his government's performance the only astonishing thing is that he survived even one year. It was obvious within a week that he was not fit to be prime minister and that he would not grow into the job.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
Everyone knows there is a rivalry and why. Simpson went much further than that, assigning a [false] consequence to effects of who wins the match.
Having been to Argentina I can say he’s right.
The Falklands War is the country’s inflexion point.
Nothing unites them more than their hatred of us.
Milei is actually relatively pro British and admired Thatcher, he just wants the Falklands to be Argentine too but by diplomatic means
Diplomatic means until the bent c-nt needs a distraction from domestic woes.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
LOL, and look forward to another LOL next week.
That’s around $4.5bn they’re looking for, and aren’t going to get except perhaps from the Chinese, who are going to want them denominated in Yuan and at massive interest rates.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Where is Russian debt mainly held - I.e. if they default in some way, is it ordinary Russians, Russian Oligarchs, the Chinese, or someone else who takes most of the hit?
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Dear Mr Burnham
This is why it may sound nice to talk tough about the bond markets, but in the real world it doesn’t actually help much if you are running a deficit.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
LOL, and look forward to another LOL next week.
That’s around $4.5bn they’re looking for, and aren’t going to get except perhaps from the Chinese, who are going to want them denominated in Yuan and at massive interest rates.
It's another thing that makes mobilisation more likely. With a mobilisation they won't have to spend vast amounts of money on the inducements to sign contracts.
Leaving 2 years after winning a 170 seat majority is still very surprising.
Considering his government's performance the only astonishing thing is that he survived even one year. It was obvious within a week that he was not fit to be prime minister and that he would not grow into the job.
It was fairly obvious well before he was Prime Minister, when he was trying to shaft the country with un-needed extra Covid restrictions for party political gain.
The moment he uttered the words "the Johnson variant" it was plain to anyone with a brain that he was a scumbag completely unsuitable to be Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, the country was so enraged by the incompetence of the Tories, when an election was called they reached to the next avaliable replacement without stopping for a moment to consider if he was any good or not.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
LOL, and look forward to another LOL next week.
That’s around $4.5bn they’re looking for, and aren’t going to get except perhaps from the Chinese, who are going to want them denominated in Yuan and at massive interest rates.
It's another thing that makes mobilisation more likely. With a mobilisation they won't have to spend vast amounts of money on the inducements to sign contracts.
Even Russian news sources are now talking about mobilisation and martial law, to be announced after the September elections. There’s even rumours of an imminent announcement of exit visas, to try and prevent capital and human flight over the summer.
1m Russians have fled the country since 2022, and there’s probably another million looking to get out now. They’re the ones who can afford to get out, or who have dual citizenship.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Where is Russian debt mainly held - I.e. if they default in some way, is it ordinary Russians, Russian Oligarchs, the Chinese, or someone else who takes most of the hit?
All of the above. Most is in Russian banks, large corporates, China, and a bit of older debt in other places.
They won’t technically default, they’ll just keep printing money, raising interest rates, and selling off assets such as gold reserves - mostly to the Chinese again, and well under market rates.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Where is Russian debt mainly held - I.e. if they default in some way, is it ordinary Russians, Russian Oligarchs, the Chinese, or someone else who takes most of the hit?
I haven't seen the figures, but I've read that a lot of it is held by Russian banks. One of the reasons that the yields on Russian bonds have been increasing recently is that Russian banks have had to sell bonds because they're dealing with increasing rates of defaults on the loans they've made to Russian businesses and people.
So everything in the Russian financial system is struggling all at the same time.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Yeah, because not "respecting reality" always works out so well and makes us all better off. Ask Kwasi.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Yeah, because not "respecting reality" always works out so well and makes us all better off. Ask Kwasi.
If you want to make the bond markets much less important there is one way to do so - consistently run a budget surplus.
Lovely final exchange between Starmer and Kemi and great credit to both of them
I thought it drivel and turned it off. It’s drivel because it’s wholly false in how they think and feel about each other. We were being fed a charade - nothing real.
Meanwhile, Burnham’s destruction of Labour as election winning force begins…
There was a moment of genuine warmth between them and most appropriate for the occassion
Indeed if Starmer had shown more of that he would still be PM and the only weird part of it all was his ovation from all those behind him who defenestrated him
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Where is Russian debt mainly held - I.e. if they default in some way, is it ordinary Russians, Russian Oligarchs, the Chinese, or someone else who takes most of the hit?
I believe a lot of state debt is held with Russian commercial banks. As this is junk anyone with a savings product will likely pay for it. I think regional governments also hold central government debt - presumably central government pushing default down the line.
Lovely final exchange between Starmer and Kemi and great credit to both of them
I thought it drivel and turned it off. It’s drivel because it’s wholly false in how they think and feel about each other. We were being fed a charade - nothing real.
Meanwhile, Burnham’s destruction of Labour as election winning force begins…
There was a moment of genuine warmth between them and most appropriate for the occassion
Indeed if Starmer had shown more of that he would still be PM and the only weird part of it all was his ovation from all those behind him who defenestrated him
He genuinely wasn't very good as a communicator or manager.
Somebody needs to give this chap a lesson in humility or is it humiliation?
Thames Water boss says he ‘deserves’ £1m salary
Environment Secretary says chief executive’s ‘outrageous’ pay rise ‘flies in the face of basic fairness’
The boss of Thames Water has defended a pay rise to nearly £1m, saying he “deserved” it.
The water company’s annual report shows Chris Weston has received two pay rises since joining the struggling utilities giant. His basic salary rose by nearly 14pc to £995,000 as of April.
Mr Weston received the pay rise as Thames Water battles to avoid nationalisation. The company’s debts swelled to £18.5bn in the 12 months to the end of March and Thames warned it only had enough funding to see it through to the end of the year.
It also failed to hit environmental targets.
Asked about the salary increase, Mr Weston said: “[The board] offered it to me. I accepted. I absolutely think the pay rise is deserved.
“At Thames, we have to be able to attract the right quality of talent and experience to be able to run and lead a company in an extremely difficult situation.”
Tbf, that’s about a fifth of what the boss of Centrica gets. Far less than the boss of RBS got for bankrupting it.
The truth is that executive pay in big companies is hopelessly out of control as shareholders are not checking it properly.
Shares are mostly held by pension companies and funds on behalf of the small investors they're also profiting off, it's a mutual enrichment club at the expense of the majority.
UK government debt will soon exceed £3 trillion, so it should be blindingly obvious to anyone who isn't a moron that keeping the bond market happy is the first priority for any Chancellor.
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 15m Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Yeah, because not "respecting reality" always works out so well and makes us all better off. Ask Kwasi.
If you want to make the bond markets much less important there is one way to do so - consistently run a budget surplus.
The bond markets are like any bank for an individual. If you want to ignore them don't borrow money. If you need to borrow money you need to deal with them and be polite in those dealings. Simples.
Russia failed to sell government bonds today. The following is from Kommersant (translated by Google).
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month. The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
Where is Russian debt mainly held - I.e. if they default in some way, is it ordinary Russians, Russian Oligarchs, the Chinese, or someone else who takes most of the hit?
I believe a lot of state debt is held with Russian commercial banks. As this is junk anyone with a savings product will likely pay for it. I think regional governments also hold central government debt - presumably central government pushing default down the line.
The Russian banks are also having to deal with high withdrawal rates, and so are competing hard with each other to attract/retain deposits.
When the Russian central bank cut interest rates a few times recently, bank deposit and mortgage rates still went up. That's a measure of the problems the Russian banks are experiencing.
@GuidoFawkes Farage says Starmer and Devon & Cornwall chief constable told him that Ann Widdecombe's death was a botched burglary:
“They both told me it’s a burglary that’s gone wrong. I said no it is not, a burglar does not park his car on your drive and walk into the house. A burglar parks in the layby down the road and has a getaway driver."
And a bag marked swag.
They have dress down Fridays though where they no longer wear black and white stripes and, sometimes, not even a mask.
In my experience, however, they are much more ecologically sound than choosing to drive 300 miles to rob a house. They are much more likely to rob the house next door.
Boaty McBoatface is leaving for Greenland to check out whether the Gulf Stream/ Escalator is about to stop.
Kemi Badenoch; " net zero is rubbish".
When Burnham opens North Sea oil and gas and takes an axe to climate change subsidy in electric bills then Kemi will have proved her point
It doesn' t have to be all or nothing, just longer transistion for a country with less than 1% of the worlds emissions
Huh? Because of fossil fuel emissions the Escalator likely stops. So let's burn more fossil fuels.
Not drilling for North Sea oil and gas has done nothing to reduce our fossil fuel emissions. We have just bought the oil and gas from elsewhere at a higher cost. That is what has been so dumb about Miliband's actions.
Comments
The second priority is then working out how to reduce that mountain of debt, so that the country is less reliant on the bond market.
The economy will start breaking down. Putin cannot deliver fuel - it is not within his powers.
Farage is an idiot believe that someone is going to park a distance away, they want their car by the door for convenience and a quick getaway
TBT. So far so good.
But I wouldn't be surprised if he thought that his fan club were idiots.
* You can define the ceiling in terms of a five-year average of GDP so that you don't have to cut it as soon as there's a recession.
And one piece of advice is to reverse her employer NI changes as that and the minimum wage is stopping anyone from employing people unless they have to.
@andrew_lilico
·
15m
Letting bond markets choose your Chancellor is nothing to do with "respecting reality". You should pick the Chancellor you believe will make the economy grow fastest, act most justly etc. If bond markets "disagree" then borrow less or pay more to borrow. Bond markets aren't gods.
Starmer less wooden too than he has been since becoming LOTO.
If there isn't an SSN in the vicinity, then it's not completely impossible.
Foolhardy, and ultimately pointless anyway, but not impossible.
If you can keep the bond market happy it gives you a bit more room to sort out everything else, which is a hard enough task without having to spend another few tens of billions of pounds on increased debt interest every year.
But (again) it is not what Simpson said.
Death of a Flagship Killer? OnePlus to announce shutdown this week – report
OnePlus to withdraw from EU and US and continue as a nominal brand in China and India – report
https://www.stuff.tv/news/one-plus-shutdown-europe-us/
Humour without trying to score points.
We can make Buenos Aires the hottest place in the world.
Pick any one, earnings OR inflation OR a fixed amount and stick with that.
Can we expect Mr Starmer to be less circumspect about Mr Trump?
"In this country we do not let people walk out of our buildings alone." (Of Zelensky after he was assaulted by Vance in the Oval Office.)
Compared to Badenoch, Davey is a bit shite.
They might also consider that their window of opportunity to get the fulsome support of Trump for Operacion Rosario 2 might be closing in a couple of years.
I'm not saying it will happen, or is even likely, but it's also a possibility which can't be completely dismissed.
Russia and Belarus are better examples.
I could see Burnham's style using something like that.
It is like Corbyn's emails with live witnesses.
Not exactly the same.
Meanwhile, Burnham’s destruction of Labour as election winning force begins…
https://news.sky.com/story/money-live-consumer-personal-finance-tips-sky-news-latest-13040934?postid=12061006#liveblog-body
https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2025/06/16/the-armament-of-the-argentine-air-forces-f-16am-bm-fighters-the-greatest-technological-leap-of-the-peace-condor-program/
The Falklands is also near the limit of the F-16s operational range, I think, without inflight refuelling ?
It would be a massive gamble at very unfavourable odds.
https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/the-nonsense-around-human-rights-tribunals-is-even-worse-than-you-think-david-thomas-in-the-national-post/
The truth is that executive pay in big companies is hopelessly out of control as shareholders are not checking it properly.
The Ministry of Finance canceled an OFZ auction for the third time in a month.
The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared the auction for the placement of federal loan bonds with variable coupon income, Series 29028, invalid. The maturity date is October 2039.
The ministry planned to offer the remainder of the issue to the market, worth up to 124 billion rubles at par. The Ministry of Finance stated that the cancellation was due to a "lack of bids at acceptable price levels." This was the first time the floater was offered to investors since December 2025.
This is the third auction cancellation in the past month. The Ministry of Finance had previously canceled the placements twice—on June 24 and July 8—citing the need to "stabilize the market situation." In the third quarter, the ministry plans to raise 1.5 trillion rubles through the primary government debt market.
The only successful bond sale Russia has had in the last four weeks was for 10 billion rubles, less than £100 million.
250 billion rubles of bonds mature next week.
https://en.mercopress.com/2026/01/24/falklands-quick-reaction-typhoons-to-upgrade-state-of-the-art-radar-system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1435_Flight_RAF
That’s around $4.5bn they’re looking for, and aren’t going to get except perhaps from the Chinese, who are going to want them denominated in Yuan and at massive interest rates.
This is why it may sound nice to talk tough about the bond markets, but in the real world it doesn’t actually help much if you are running a deficit.
Yours
Y Doethur
Punned It in Chief, PB.com
The moment he uttered the words "the Johnson variant" it was plain to anyone with a brain that he was a scumbag completely unsuitable to be Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, the country was so enraged by the incompetence of the Tories, when an election was called they reached to the next avaliable replacement without stopping for a moment to consider if he was any good or not.
1m Russians have fled the country since 2022, and there’s probably another million looking to get out now. They’re the ones who can afford to get out, or who have dual citizenship.
Geography is meaningless, culture is not. We have far more in common with Canada and Australia than Belarus and Russia.
They won’t technically default, they’ll just keep printing money, raising interest rates, and selling off assets such as gold reserves - mostly to the Chinese again, and well under market rates.
So everything in the Russian financial system is struggling all at the same time.
Kemi Badenoch; " net zero is rubbish".
Indeed if Starmer had shown more of that he would still be PM and the only weird part of it all was his ovation from all those behind him who defenestrated him
It doesn' t have to be all or nothing, just longer transistion for a country with less than 1% of the worlds emissions
Badenoch had a very good outing today.
When the Russian central bank cut interest rates a few times recently, bank deposit and mortgage rates still went up. That's a measure of the problems the Russian banks are experiencing.
In my experience, however, they are much more ecologically sound than choosing to drive 300 miles to rob a house. They are much more likely to rob the house next door.