CENTCOM: “A US service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury.”
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
It's very easy to believe that Burnham will become unpopular pretty rapidly. But the question then is whether any other possible Labour leader would be more popular?
IIRC, Burnham was the only alternative who improved Labour polling when the hypothetical question was asked - Miliband, Rayner, etc, were no improvement on Starmer. So the impetus for change is missing.
If there is a Truss-style financial calamity then the situation is different, and Burnham has made some worrying statements in that regard. But he seems to be more willing to bend in the wind than Truss (e.g. over the ULEZ for Greater Manchester) and so that would make him less likely to drive the country over a fiscal cliff.
49 days from Monday is the 7th September.
“If there is a Truss-style financial calamity”
There was no Liz Truss financial calamity, it’s a myth and rewriting of true history. Firstly it was a budget poorly reported by the media at the time, a mere £12B giveaway budget wrongly called the biggest tax giveaway and most wrongly balanced budget of all time. What happened to UK in the markets was happening to EVERYBODY outside of US at exactly the same time, it was due to temporary strengthening of US dollar.
The actual historical truth, It was actually a political crisis, driven by a sizeable chunk of the Conservative Party, including most MPs and Grandee’s, flatly refusing to accept Liz Truss as leader when they could have Rishi Sunak instead, and they were the ones joining opponents in media that the budget was a financial calamity and the economy crashing.
The key driver of the crisis and ousting was belief of Conservative MPs Sunak would be better bet on economics and voter appeal than Truss. The economy was not fundamentally crashed in that short period.
PB's Truss defenders never explain if things were going so swimmingly why did she fire Kwasi Kwarteng?
I’m not a Truss defender, i’m not saying it would have turned out particular good if Tory’s didn’t oust her. I’m defending true history of what happened, being so much Conservative Party and MPs not accepting her as leader that made her reign so short, the economic calamity from that budget was massively spun by everyone from Farage to the Morning Star.
For a true history of politics, so often politics gets in the way - a most famous example of this for historians: the three people at the meeting that made Winston’s Churchill Prime Minister each told a different story of what happened. Being the nature of politics to spin things. But the true history of the Truss PM period gives us some very interesting lessons.
Firstly, to set out the lay of the land it all happened on, ousting of Truss was built on the politics in a Conservative Party divide between members and MPs. MPs and large portion of members, very radically didn’t want Truss or give her a chance at all.
Secondly, the budget, that anti truss Conservative group absolutely hated her budget and the vibes it sent out. The budget was ideological, for example, cutting of top rate of tax to inspire aspiration, no introduction of windfall tax etc - so many MPs and party members could not row in behind that. Was it a huge giveaway splurge though? Absolutely not. When properly analysed, with all the stealthy taxes from threshold changes built in, it was only a £12B giveaway budget, quite nothing in the bigger scheme of things. So why did so much media present it as a huge tax cutting giveaway budget? All those front pages and Sky headlines told us it was, a few weeks later when it clearly wasn’t, only a few tiny footnotes corrected all misleading splash of headlines.
Thirdly, mistakes Truss regime made that played into opponents hands. Not putting the budget through the OBR didn’t help with the markets quickly digesting it. And promising Fuel Bill giveaway bonanza to absolutely everyone for a full two and a half years was independently assessed as costing unaffordable £200 - £300 billion, and that was the financial measure that made the markets a bit volcanic. But not a crashed economy though, as in his first day Hunt said this giveaway is now just 6 months, and just like when people get thrown into volcano and it works to stop eruption, the volcanic activity instantly stopped. By instantly I do mean instantly, the speed of change should point historians to how the £200B commitment without any indication how to fund it from ideological tax cutting budget, played in the markets those weeks.
Fourthly, a huge lesson to take away how this period of Conservative in fighting helped their opponents to extent Conservatives never recovered from. The spin the economy was crashed by Tory incompetence sent Labour polling into stratospheres, and also Reform polling and voting, just a little twig in a pot less than 3% - started to spurt into a bush based on this myth of Tory economic incompetence.
Who to believe, eh, for 'the true history of the Truss PM period' - some random anonymous poster on the internet or the virtually unanimous opinion of political and finance commentators across the political spectrum?
It's a tough one.
Given the shear awfulness of most of the latter who are consistency wrong about everything, the rando on the internet might edge it.
It's an amusing comment but not at all true is it?
What have the main media political commentators and correspondents been consistently wrong about recently? The GE outcome? Starmer's demise? Burnham's rise?
I mean, they are not psychic but generally they get things right because all that's needed is common sense rather than a sixth sense.
Ben - are you saying Liz Truss did crash the economy? Then I ask you a very simple question. Please point to the observable dents, structural deformations, shattered glass that needed replacing, and things not working the same ever again being some of the evidence of something that was crashed.
There was never any evidence to prove it. You have nothing at all to point to.
The myth came about when such a solid portion of Conservative MPs and party members who wanted Truss out, sided with opposition parties in talking up the idea Truss economic policies and ideological budget was crashing the economy.
But where was the observable, measurable, lingering damage, of something being visibly repaired, of a crashed economy? There was none. You have zero evidence to support your myth.
I didn't say she crashed the economy - she was thankfully removed before she could do that.
But there was a Liz Truss financial calamity, contrary to your contention: Pension funds were forced into a fire sale of gilts, necessitating a £65bn emergency bond-buying program by the BoE. Mortgage rates increased by half virtually overnight, causing a lot of real hardship for many. GBP hit an all time low against the USD. The IMF issued a stinging condemnation...
Truss absolutely had to go but even so, her brief premiership left a legacy of higher borrowing costs for the UK.
That you have helped everyone out by downgrading “crashed economy” to having only to find evidence to support much lesser charge of “financial calamity” is duly noted.
You have supplied some information to try and support there was a “financial calamity directly caused by Liz Truss.”
I shall now succinctly dismantle your evidence.
“Pension funds were forced into a fire sale of gilts, necessitating a £65bn emergency bond-buying program by the BoE.” This happened. But its cause was actually misbehaviour by fund managers, encouraged by regulatory negligence of previous chancellors and Prime Ministers. The fund managers didn’t get away with the naughty way of doing things because you are correct “ GBP hit an all time low against the USD and Gilts hit all time highs” revealing those problems in pension management. But The GBP and gilt movements that smoked out problems in funds were result of strong dollar against just about every currency on earth, which you can’t simply link to Truss budget if it’s happening globally can you? Nor blame the long stewing problem in pensions that needed BOE intervention on Truss, its 100% happened under previous chancellors, like Sunak and their PMs.
‘IMF issued a stinging condemnation...” you mean of the budget? Overall it was just a £12B giveaway budget, it cut a top rate of tax, so yes, cutting top rates of tax and handing out money rather than clawing more in does sound like what IMF would typically whinge about, but are they always right to do do? Britain needed growth. It needed to send out growth making vibes. The truth of that tax Truss abolished was it only appeared in 2010 when Brown salted the earth for incoming Conservatives. And half of it Osborne had already slashed in 2012. For so many Conservatives to make a fuss about it to undermine Truss, ultimately resulted in a Labour Landslide and the Rise of reform.
“Mortgage rates increased by half virtually overnight, causing a lot of real hardship for many.” That happened Under Truss and lasting result of the Truss budget? Really? 🤣
Got any other evidence?
Truss’s budget removed IR35, one of the foundation stones of employer NI which generates £80bn or so a year
Completely untrue. If you are going to comment on this then please do your homework first.
1. IR35 is not a foundation stone of employer NI. Employer NI was introduced in 1911. IR35 was introduced in 2000 to deal with very specific issues around contracting. Even if the proposal had been to remove it entirely it would not have threatened the vast majority of employer NI conributions because the vast majority of people would have remained on PAYE.
But more importantly
2, The budget did not propose to remove IR35. It only reversed the most recent modifications (2017 and 2021) which were so poorly designed that they had led to a collapse in legitimate contracting. There was no attempt at all to 'remove IR35'.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
It's very easy to believe that Burnham will become unpopular pretty rapidly. But the question then is whether any other possible Labour leader would be more popular?
IIRC, Burnham was the only alternative who improved Labour polling when the hypothetical question was asked - Miliband, Rayner, etc, were no improvement on Starmer. So the impetus for change is missing.
If there is a Truss-style financial calamity then the situation is different, and Burnham has made some worrying statements in that regard. But he seems to be more willing to bend in the wind than Truss (e.g. over the ULEZ for Greater Manchester) and so that would make him less likely to drive the country over a fiscal cliff.
49 days from Monday is the 7th September.
“If there is a Truss-style financial calamity”
There was no Liz Truss financial calamity, it’s a myth and rewriting of true history. Firstly it was a budget poorly reported by the media at the time, a mere £12B giveaway budget wrongly called the biggest tax giveaway and most wrongly balanced budget of all time. What happened to UK in the markets was happening to EVERYBODY outside of US at exactly the same time, it was due to temporary strengthening of US dollar.
The actual historical truth, It was actually a political crisis, driven by a sizeable chunk of the Conservative Party, including most MPs and Grandee’s, flatly refusing to accept Liz Truss as leader when they could have Rishi Sunak instead, and they were the ones joining opponents in media that the budget was a financial calamity and the economy crashing.
The key driver of the crisis and ousting was belief of Conservative MPs Sunak would be better bet on economics and voter appeal than Truss. The economy was not fundamentally crashed in that short period.
PB's Truss defenders never explain if things were going so swimmingly why did she fire Kwasi Kwarteng?
I’m not a Truss defender, i’m not saying it would have turned out particular good if Tory’s didn’t oust her. I’m defending true history of what happened, being so much Conservative Party and MPs not accepting her as leader that made her reign so short, the economic calamity from that budget was massively spun by everyone from Farage to the Morning Star.
For a true history of politics, so often politics gets in the way - a most famous example of this for historians: the three people at the meeting that made Winston’s Churchill Prime Minister each told a different story of what happened. Being the nature of politics to spin things. But the true history of the Truss PM period gives us some very interesting lessons.
Firstly, to set out the lay of the land it all happened on, ousting of Truss was built on the politics in a Conservative Party divide between members and MPs. MPs and large portion of members, very radically didn’t want Truss or give her a chance at all.
Secondly, the budget, that anti truss Conservative group absolutely hated her budget and the vibes it sent out. The budget was ideological, for example, cutting of top rate of tax to inspire aspiration, no introduction of windfall tax etc - so many MPs and party members could not row in behind that. Was it a huge giveaway splurge though? Absolutely not. When properly analysed, with all the stealthy taxes from threshold changes built in, it was only a £12B giveaway budget, quite nothing in the bigger scheme of things. So why did so much media present it as a huge tax cutting giveaway budget? All those front pages and Sky headlines told us it was, a few weeks later when it clearly wasn’t, only a few tiny footnotes corrected all misleading splash of headlines.
Thirdly, mistakes Truss regime made that played into opponents hands. Not putting the budget through the OBR didn’t help with the markets quickly digesting it. And promising Fuel Bill giveaway bonanza to absolutely everyone for a full two and a half years was independently assessed as costing unaffordable £200 - £300 billion, and that was the financial measure that made the markets a bit volcanic. But not a crashed economy though, as in his first day Hunt said this giveaway is now just 6 months, and just like when people get thrown into volcano and it works to stop eruption, the volcanic activity instantly stopped. By instantly I do mean instantly, the speed of change should point historians to how the £200B commitment without any indication how to fund it from ideological tax cutting budget, played in the markets those weeks.
Fourthly, a huge lesson to take away how this period of Conservative in fighting helped their opponents to extent Conservatives never recovered from. The spin the economy was crashed by Tory incompetence sent Labour polling into stratospheres, and also Reform polling and voting, just a little twig in a pot less than 3% - started to spurt into a bush based on this myth of Tory economic incompetence.
Elements of this are true but the fact remains Truss won the ballot of Conservative members 57-43 so she clearly had some support in the party (along with 113 MPs).
She was second in the MP's ballot and we can only speculate as to what would have happened if Mordaunt had finished second and presumably beaten Sunak in the Members' vote.
Budgets are often reported inaccurately and as we know the first response is usually predicated on that mis or disinformation. It was a febrile time with concern over energy prices and as we know throwing petrol onto a perfectly good fire is never a good idea.
I think Truss herself has to take a lot of the responsibility - the sacking of Kwarteng and the disowning of his Budget in early and mid October left the piranhas (or vultures or whatever analogy works for you) scenting blood.
The fracking vote debacle and the sacking of Braverman contributed to an atmosphere of panic and a sense she (Truss) was not in controlof events or indeed her Cabinet. Graham Brady's account of all this in his book is well worth reading.
Truss made many fatal miscalculations, that she's admitted. I think the biggest was that in all her Ministerial setbacks where she'd seen the blob at work frustrating her plans, she assumed that all she needed to do was get to the level of PM, where she believed the real power resided. Once she'd achieved that she could set the agenda, and other PMs had been unwilling (May) or too lazy (Boris) to do so. This wasn't the case. Even the PM (as acknowledged by Starmer) is seriously weakened in the post-Blair constitutional settlement. If she'd been more curious intellectually, she might have been more ready.
You only had to look at her to know she would blow up. Perfectly obvious to me, at least. I still don't really understand how someone so obviously unfit could have made it to No 10.
I felt the same in the run up. I said so clearly here. However, once she came in, I was very pleasantly surprised by her resolve to revive the economy.
A Prime Minister is really a team. Margaret Thatcher was a massively more talented poltician and thinker than Liz Truss, but also look at her team. Airey Neave. William Whitelaw. Norman Tebbit. Who did Truss have? Seems to be her most trusted political confidant was Therese Coffey. And taking nothing away from her, but she was not Airey Neave.
Don't forget that when Truss left office, both gilt yields and polling levels gradually returned to the worst they'd been under her, and worse. Yes, she went about her plan like a bull in a china shop, but doing nothing wasn't an option either, and that became clear in the event.
I knew Therese Coffey at university. Nice, but to a political mover and shaker.
Being able to assemble a top notch team is skill 1 for being a PM.
When was the last time we came to blows with Spain?*
(* not counting the Civil War (1936-39), as the UK govt. was officially neutral)
Anglo-Spanish War. 1762 - 1763
More recently, Spain was allied with the Americans and the French in the Revolutionary War, and again (admittedly not always willingly) in the Napoleonic
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
When was the last time we came to blows with Spain?*
(* not counting the Civil War (1936-39), as the UK govt. was officially neutral)
Anglo-Spanish War. 1762 - 1763
More recently, Spain was allied with the Americans and the French in the Revolutionary War, and again (admittedly not always willingly) in the Napoleonic
Aye. Lots of people fairly commenting on that but I had kind of ignored it because we were fighting both with and against Spain throughout the whole period and no one was clear who the Spanish Government was for most of it. But it is a fair point.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your USP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
Conditions are in place on Whitehall tomorrow (Monday, 20 July).
Anyone assembling near the Downing Street gates to observe events linked to the new Prime Minister must not use any amplified noise equipment and must stay within the shaded area. These conditions are in place between 10:30 – 13:30.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your ISP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
Hold on a second. I explicitly said putting his political rant to one side. As so often always you try to put words in my mouth I did not say. I am not agreeing with this the government fault on this issue. It was more an observation that is AI actually taking all these computer science grads from a decent universities jobs. I don't know the answer to it.
I certainly think the government got it wrong on NI and its a job tax. But highly skilled computer science graduates, that extra cost of employing is far less prohibitive than minimum wage and lower entry level (where the change in when NI kicks in is the real killer). And even if it has reduced hiring for these grad roles a bit, 2 out of 80 seems incredible, that isn't the current government policy in action, that is something much more wide reaching.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
80 responded to the survey and 2 reported having found a job, or 10 responded and 2 reported?
And department ranking and university ranking are different things.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your ISP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
Hold on a second. I explicitly said putting his political rant to one side. As so often always you try to put words in my mouth I did not say. I am not agreeing with this the government fault on this issue. It was more an observation that is AI actually taking all these computer science grads from a decent universities jobs. I don't know the answer to it.
I certainly think the government got it wrong on NI and its a job tax. But highly skilled computer science graduates, that extra cost of employing is far less prohibitive than minimum wage and lower entry level (where the change in when NI kicks in is the real killer). And even if it has reduced hiring for these grad roles a bit, 2 out of 80 seems incredible, that isn't the current government policy in action, that is something much more wide reaching.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your ISP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
Hold on a second. I explicitly said putting his political rant to one side. As so often always you try to put words in my mouth I did not say. I am not agreeing with this the government fault on this issue. It was more an observation that is AI actually taking all these computer science grads from a decent universities jobs. I don't know the answer to it.
I certainly think the government got it wrong on NI and its a job tax. But highly skilled computer science graduates, that extra cost of employing is far less prohibitive than minimum wage and lower entry level (where the change in when NI kicks in is the real killer). And even if it has reduced hiring for these grad roles a bit, 2 out of 80 seems incredible, that isn't the current government policy in action, that is something much more wide reaching.
Leon was right AI is taking ALL our jobs.
You are quite welcome to nuance any criticism towards this Government, although I think I am entitled to put an alternative narrative based on my own anecdotal timeline.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
80 responded to the survey and 2 reported having found a job, or 10 responded and 2 reported?
And department ranking and university ranking are different things.
I mean we should start with the person tweeting, has known once or twice to get the facts wrong or it could be my mate's son goes there and he says only 2 people he knows have a job (and he doesn't actually attend any lectures and knows f##k all people on the course but not going to admit to his parents he spent 3 years in his room playing FIFA). Universities are pretty hot these days on pestering students about their employment status as they want all the data, but it could be a dodgy survey.
When was the last time we came to blows with Spain?*
(* not counting the Civil War (1936-39), as the UK govt. was officially neutral)
Anglo-Spanish War. 1762 - 1763
More recently, Spain was allied with the Americans and the French in the Revolutionary War, and again (admittedly not always willingly) in the Napoleonic
Last time was 1808, IIRC. When Napoleon poked Spain with a stick, and turned Spain into a British ally.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
2 x 45 minute shows and a 30 minute game?
(Actually, forget that - FIFA might be reading....)
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your USP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
What I am seeing is that the IT employment market is broken - skilled people can't get jobs and the employers can't find skilled people.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
God no.
Bring back Pavarotti.
If the Big O can tour as a Hologram why not Pavarotti
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
God no.
Bring back Pavarotti.
What’s wrong with a brass band and a guy in a bear costume?
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your USP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
What I am seeing is that the IT employment market is broken - skilled people can't get jobs and the employers can't find skilled people.
Everywhere I know (Finance IT) is short staffed.
Seems, on the face of it, a simple solution.
So what is the issue ? Wrong skill set or jobs not where people are or the recruitment is flawed.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I suspect it is true, but the difficulty predates this Government. My anecdote is my son graduated with a 2:1 in Computer Programming in 2023. He's been working 12 hour shifts (including night shifts) at Sony. Young people may be lazy but I have never in my life never had to start work at 6.20am and alternative weeks finish at 6.20 am.
But your USP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
What I am seeing is that the IT employment market is broken - skilled people can't get jobs and the employers can't find skilled people.
Everywhere I know (Finance IT) is short staffed.
Seems, on the face of it, a simple solution.
So what is the issue ? Wrong skill set or jobs not where people are or the recruitment is flawed.
One thing a friend told me the other week who is pretty senior in a tech company, graduates are still being taught traditional computer science, coding etc. While, he says if he sees anybody in his team manually coding large chunks and not using agentic workflows, he wants to know why.
I’m told that of the 80 students who graduated at Exeter university in computer science just two have found jobs as Labour tax policies and AI have killed the market. Feel desperate for the grads who have given 3 years of their life and £60K to discover they’re unwanted.
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
Sounds like bullshit. Also we are just at the end of the academic cycle, many students do take a bit of time to gain the right job. At Bath we have large numbers of computer based courses and have extremely good employment after 15 months.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
Madonna and the Muppets, is that an up and coming beat combo?
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
So far the half time show of Madonna, the Muppets and BTS and now Justin Bieber has been more interesting and engaging than the first half of the actual match
God no.
Bring back Pavarotti.
If the Big O can tour as a Hologram why not Pavarotti
Anything would be better than this.
I know it is all a circus but I can't imagine the players are enjoying the long break.
Please let this not set a precedent
Though I bet Madonna couldn't do it on a wet night in Stoke.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Ugh, Burnham is going to be an absolute disaster as PM.
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
Comments
Another death.
CENTCOM: “A US service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury.”
And we invaded and occupied Montevideo and Argentina in 1807.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/19/gibraltar.world
https://x.com/kelvmackenzie/status/2078893948966207507?s=20
Putting aside his political rant, I would be interested to know if this is really true. Exeter is quite a highly ranked university. And those numbers feel so apocalyptic not to be believed.
I hear you.
1. IR35 is not a foundation stone of employer NI. Employer NI was introduced in 1911. IR35 was introduced in 2000 to deal with very specific issues around contracting. Even if the proposal had been to remove it entirely it would not have threatened the vast majority of employer NI conributions because the vast majority of people would have remained on PAYE.
But more importantly
2, The budget did not propose to remove IR35. It only reversed the most recent modifications (2017 and 2021) which were so poorly designed that they had led to a collapse in legitimate contracting. There was no attempt at all to 'remove IR35'.
Labour have recognised the damage done and have introduced the Youth Jobs Grant to try to atone.
I’m quite concerned about the excessive yellow cards issued
The first two were for “deliberate knock-ons”; one was a failed interception, the other was a guy failing to hit the ball backwards
Neither looked like a player deliberately trying to get an advantage by knocking on. They should have been scrums, not yellows
The other two, in the last ten minutes were for similarly minor infractions, like being offside, and coming in at the side of a breakdown
Argentina got a couple of soft yellows too, but they also got away with a few punches in the face, and with intimidating and manhandling the ref
We weren’t at our best, but did bloody well to hang on
[Burnham] does not plan, for example, to wear a shirt and tie when he becomes prime minister on Monday — except in the chamber or for exceptional events.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/how-andy-burnham-will-start-digital-id-axed-cabinet-post-for-ai-g8vr2d89s
He's going to be a bigger scruff than Jeremy Corbyn.
They're like a group of misbehaved ill-disciplined teenagers.
UK tech advocates alarmed by Burnham plan to scrap technology department
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/burnham-plan-to-scrap-technology-department-triggers-backlash
But your USP is that economic turmoil is entirely the work of this government and of course you could be right. Crack on.
I certainly think the government got it wrong on NI and its a job tax. But highly skilled computer science graduates, that extra cost of employing is far less prohibitive than minimum wage and lower entry level (where the change in when NI kicks in is the real killer). And even if it has reduced hiring for these grad roles a bit, 2 out of 80 seems incredible, that isn't the current government policy in action, that is something much more wide reaching.
Three sixes
Four fours
Two twos
Three singles
One dot
Strike rate of just over 315
And department ranking and university ranking are different things.
That sounds like the kind of scenario that Jay and Lynn could have had a lot of fun with.
You are quite welcome to nuance any criticism towards this Government, although I think I am entitled to put an alternative narrative based on my own anecdotal timeline.
I see them strolling on to the pitch and je suis Maggie Thatcher.
(Actually, forget that - FIFA might be reading....)
They should do this with every cup,final.
Champions league
Domestic cups.
If I ever became PM i would insist on morning suits for all male ministers.
Bring back Pavarotti.
Everywhere I know (Finance IT) is short staffed.
[perks up]
£60 to the barber and £500 to rent a tractor to drag him backwards through some hedges for an hour.
So what is the issue ? Wrong skill set or jobs not where people are or the recruitment is flawed.
Tell us why New Look Labour is good
I know it is all a circus but I can't imagine the players are enjoying the long break.
Please let this not set a precedent
Though I bet Madonna couldn't do it on a wet night in Stoke.
This is why the pictures keep on shrinking.