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Reply | Post election thoughts
at 05:51 6 Jul 2024
My mood lightened slightly when I saw that our new PM had passed over Emily Thornberry for the Attorney General role. But then I saw that the substitute chosen (and given a peerage to enable him to take the position) is Richard Hermer KC, a human rights lawyer from the infamous Matrix Chambers. Among his specialist areas of expertise is the application of international law in domestic UK courts. Another plus point for the cross channel trade. |
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Reply | Post election thoughts
at 13:12 5 Jul 2024
As far as I can see, England's COVID performance was not noticeably worse than that of Wales and Scotland, except perhaps in the area of PPE contracts. Scotland had some difficult moments because of its reluctance to use central UK support services. Wales was a little more nanny state than England with the mileage from home limit and those closed supermarket aisles containing "non-essential" goods. What was it about England's performance that was so bad compared with what happened in Wales? |
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Reply | Rwanda
at 01:25 5 Jul 2024
Some would say that every attempt to do something has been undermined, and in part by the people who will form the incoming government. I predict a record summer for small boat arrivals. |
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Reply | Nigel Farage
at 21:02 4 Jul 2024
The counterpoint to this will be obvious to radio-listening insomniacs. If you can't sleep one night tune in to the World Service. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 20:55 4 Jul 2024
Those are indeed big factors. The irony is that those who are now criticizing our present economic situation were the very ones saying the government was not doing enough to help people through the cost of living crisis. |
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Reply | Rwanda
at 01:17 3 Jul 2024
I see that the law firms who received legal aid to represent migrants detained pending deportation to Rwanda are saying they will seek substantial damages for unlawful detention (presumably with a further dollop of legal aid). The fortunate ones will then draw further from the public purse to return to their free hotels and gain further legal aid in order to pursue the standard asylum claims that the incoming Labour government will now permit for those the recent Act had disqualified. One imagines this will not go unnoticed in the camps across the channel, and will assist the Kurdish gangs in spicing up their marketing blurb. What a wonderful thing the magic money tree is! |
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Reply | Gautier Ott signing is ‘almost not recoverable’ after the deal collapses
at 01:38 1 Jul 2024
Sounds about right, Even given Keith's words about the impressive track record of the agents, I don't think the latter have done very well for Ott or themselves. They started with a client playing at a level below L1, and all that has changed regarding his marketability is that he will now be perceived as expensive. Unless Ott does something on the field to change that both agency and player are in a worse position. |
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Reply | Rhianon Passmore
at 03:14 30 Jun 2024
Those of us who once voted Labour regularly probably still feel some sympathy for "old Labour" values; it is the SJWs who have taken the party far away from its roots that are anathema. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 16:15 28 Jun 2024
Guess this is right overall. However, the caveat is that we do still have substantial iron ore reserves; it is just cheaper to import. It could argued that this makes a difference if we are talking about a strategic asset. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 11:35 28 Jun 2024
The electric arc furnace only plan was never very attractive. Somehow or other we needed our UK or Welsh Government to come up with a deal similar to the one Tata agreed in the Netherlands, or otherwise go down a nationalisation route, justified by the need to safeguard a strategic asset.
https://www.gem.wiki/Tata_Steel_IJmuiden_steel_plant
https://www.aist.org/steel-news/steel-news/2022/september/12-16-september-2022/t
The IJmuiden plant will be able to process pig iron using DRI/EAF technology - perhaps fueled by hydrogen, perhaps gas. In other words it adds a "direct reduced iron" front end to the electric arc furnace so that it can make virgin steel, rather than just using scrap. [Post edited 28 Jun 11:37]
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Reply | The tainted First Minister
at 05:59 27 Jun 2024
I accept the point about economy and business class travel, and this article was probably one of the least effective of the recent WoL exposés. However, the more telling points in the article were that the key Tata executives had been in London 2 weeks before, when with foresight a meeting with Gething could have been scheduled, and the unnecessarily evasive response of the WG about cost. The article noted that Virgin business class was significantly more expensive than BA business class. [Post edited 27 Jun 7:54]
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Reply | Nigel Farage (n/t)
at 08:33 26 Jun 2024
I genuinely don't understand how smashing the gangs is supposed to work, compared with what is already happening. I thought the theory coming from Labour strategists was that we would indeed lever some improvements in what happens now precisely through better cooperation with the French, as well as certain countries on the migrant and rubber boat supply routes, such as Germany and Turkey. Many of the gangs appear to have strong Kurdish connections so what could be achieved on our own territory seems quite limited. Regarding access to the channel, France appears to be the country that could do more, and we have already thrown many times the money spent on Rwanda their way. Belgium could have been a problem, but it is reported that police there are prepared to stop boats and people in the water, in the contrast to the rule the French use as their get out clause, when police stand on beaches watching migrants queue in shallow water. |
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Reply | Rising national debt
at 06:36 25 Jun 2024
I suppose that it is easy enough to see public debt as something affecting many Western nations and to recall past periods when national debt was also high, but the problem I see is the combination of the growing cost of servicing the debt combined with low productivity in a country with a rapidly expanding population. Is the current deficit spending sustainable? This is the IFS's take:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/households-must-brace-for-tax-rises-over-n |
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Reply | hajrá Magyarország
at 02:21 24 Jun 2024
Somebody on that Daily Mail article comment thread suggested that Labour Wales and Labour London give us a preview of the UK's future after July. Unfortunately I think that could be right. |
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Reply | Nigel Farage
at 07:17 22 Jun 2024
I'd say that even people who think Farage is right on certain other issues will see this as way beyond the pale. It is a huge blunder, and probably a line Farage cultivated to chime with his US pals in MAGA. |
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Thread | Rising national debt
at 01:53 22 Jun 2024
For a while some of us have been expressing concern about rising welfare expenditure against the background of already high tax levels, which however, for many tax payers amount to less contributed than they receive in services and benefits. That picture is worsening according to the latest figures. Covid 19 spending, energy subsidies and the latest benefits inflation uplift have added to the pressure. It is reported that France has a similar problem.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/britain-s-debt-soars-to-2-7-trillion/ar-BB
Will Sir Keir have the solution? Before anybody suggests it, I don't think raising taxes for the rich is going to be enough.
[Post edited 22 Jun 7:19]
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Reply | The tainted First Minister
at 10:04 21 Jun 2024
Yep, I think this could be a slow-motion train crash. The Senedd is not going to come out of this smelling of roses. It is paralysed by a mixture of cronyism and wokeness. |
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Reply | Votes for Prisoners and 16 yr olds
at 09:52 21 Jun 2024
This argument is a bit of a stretch when you consider the 8 year olds paying VAT on their bar of chocolate. |
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Reply | These idiots JUST STOP OIL
at 09:48 21 Jun 2024
Agree with the point that even in our forum with its broad church, JSO don't have any real support. In alienating the general population, they turn people off moderate and sensibly -paced climate control measures that would make sense. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 901 | | Comment Votes: | 1 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 902 |
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