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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 29, 2023 16:43:22 GMT
Bland Blairism is probably not what we'll get but I think a lot of the children who got a better start in life through Bland Blairism that they certainly wouldn't have under the Tories would quibble that it was that bland. Doing stuff under the tabloid radar is sometimes necessary in this country alas, alas. It would be nice if social justice could be shouted from the rooftops by a British government but the poison in our media will not allow it. There are not enough of those who think like you to make anything like an electoral difference as the Labour party has no doubt calculated whereas not scaring erstwhile floating voters (who are easily scared and have a lot of people just itching for any opportunity to scare them) has a lot of mileage in it. I think this harping on about the media (by which I assume you mean newspapers, radio and TV), not just by you is overblown. For instance this shows the decline in newspaper sakes in the last 15 years or so. it's about a third of what it was. www.statista.com/statistics/476016/expenditure-on-newspapers-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/With the rise of the internet and social media in particular there are many more sources available. A lot of these are highly dubious but they are nevertheless very influential. e.g. Andrew Tate as one example but there are many others of all shades of opinion. I think you ought to read all the posts before writing such stuff. Just a bit upthread there's plenty of evidence about media use by age etc. An aside. I use Facebook and Youtube a fair bit but I've never seen any real national or international news on them. Am I just very lucky? |
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 29, 2023 16:49:32 GMT
Robert Jenrick accidentally tells the truth by admitting the government's migration policy is "evil and pernicious".
"In one answer, Jenrick appeared to argue that the government had to remove incentives to arrive by small boats by being as ruthless as people smugglers: “They are some of the most evil, most pernicious people in society. You have to match them."
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Post by alec on Mar 29, 2023 16:49:35 GMT
I think c-a-r-f-r-e-w posted yesterday about how the UK has struggled to deliver on the promise of various grand plans, and today we have another example of how some lap up the press briefings and media releases, rather than wait for the details of what has actually been agreed, in this case with the 'leaks' about UK accession to the CPTPP. I think Carfrew identified the end result of the problem of government by press release that we've struggled with for the last decade or more. Some get confused, and think that an announcement is the same as a plan, and where the UK has been dreadful these last thirteen years hasn't been on words and ambitions, nor on targets, but the government has consistently failed to develop actual delivery plans for the targets and objectives they announce. |
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Post by mercian on Mar 29, 2023 16:50:50 GMT
The Guardian said ( 22/12/22) that Starmer "targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’" "Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success" OFCOM say that 21% of this age group use newspapers for their news ( 33% with the websit/app) Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? |
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 29, 2023 16:51:21 GMT
EmCat Re: greater precision for chatGPT You may know of Stephen Wolfram, the maths prodigy who founded Wolfram Research, the company behind Mathematica, and Wolfram Alpha. And Wolfram Alpha is what’s known as an “answer engine”, and Wolfram is proposing linking it to ChatGPT to help sort the problem of precision. “Wolfram|Alpha as the Way to Bring Computational Knowledge Superpowers to ChatGPT” writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/01/wolframalpha-as-the-way-to-bring-computational-knowledge-superpowers-to-chatgpt/A key point here, is that both ChatGPT and Wolfram Alpha use a natural language interface, so they can talk to each other. (There are other potential enhancements: e.g. there’s a paper showing that in theory you can augment these Large Language models by adding external memory, whereupon you could add different layers of LLMs).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2023 16:51:41 GMT
The Guardian said ( 22/12/22) that Starmer "targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’" "Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success" OFCOM say that 21% of this age group use newspapers for their news ( 33% with the websit/app) Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? I didn't. |
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oldnat
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Extremist - Undermining the UK state and its institutions
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Post by oldnat on Mar 29, 2023 16:56:04 GMT
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 29, 2023 16:59:28 GMT
The Guardian said ( 22/12/22) that Starmer "targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’" "Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success" OFCOM say that 21% of this age group use newspapers for their news ( 33% with the websit/app) Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? I didn't. It was paid off when I was 57 and then only by downsizing. |
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 29, 2023 17:00:31 GMT
Graham's gone to the Greens already. |
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bardin1
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Post by bardin1 on Mar 29, 2023 17:02:01 GMT
The Guardian said ( 22/12/22) that Starmer "targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’" "Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success" OFCOM say that 21% of this age group use newspapers for their news ( 33% with the websit/app) Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? 67 and 8 years left on mine - its touch and go whether the mortgage outlasts me |
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Post by barbara on Mar 29, 2023 17:04:16 GMT
Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? I didn't. It was paid off when I was 57 and then only by downsizing. Same here. 53 and downsizing |
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Post by mercian on Mar 29, 2023 17:05:10 GMT
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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A step on the way toward the demise of the liberal elite? Or just a blip…
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 29, 2023 17:12:59 GMT
I think c-a-r-f-r-e-w posted yesterday about how the UK has struggled to deliver on the promise of various grand plans, and today we have another example of how some lap up the press briefings and media releases, rather than wait for the details of what has actually been agreed, in this case with the 'leaks' about UK accession to the CPTPP. I think Carfrew identified the end result of the problem of government by press release that we've struggled with for the last decade or more. Some get confused, and think that an announcement is the same as a plan, and where the UK has been dreadful these last thirteen years hasn't been on words and ambitions, nor on targets, but the government has consistently failed to develop actual delivery plans for the targets and objectives they announce. And the thing that really boils my onions, is that when they do actually set up something decent, they dismantle it or sell the bugger off! |
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 29, 2023 17:16:07 GMT
Our first house cost £13,400 47 years ago. We're living in our tenth house. The fifth house we bought is currently valued at £1.26m. Steve'll know it on Langley Hill. |
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domjg
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Post by domjg on Mar 29, 2023 17:16:54 GMT
The Guardian said ( 22/12/22) that Starmer "targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’" "Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success" OFCOM say that 21% of this age group use newspapers for their news ( 33% with the websit/app) Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? Wow I wish, that would be something nice to look forward to! |
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Mar 29, 2023 17:21:07 GMT
Graham's gone to the Greens already. That made me spit my tea out 😀 |
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steve
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Post by steve on Mar 29, 2023 17:22:07 GMT
"That said- there was never a great wave of enthusiasm in favour of joining the EEC in the early 1970s. The Common Market was far from being popular and almost certainly contributed to Heath's defeat in early 1974"
Referendum on continued membership June 1975
Yes 17,378,581 67.23%
No 8,470,073 32.77%
Valid votes 25,848,654 99.79%
Invalid or blank votes 54,540 0.21%
Total votes 25,903,194 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 40,086,677
So just the four million more votes in favour than Labour achieved in the landslide win 22 years later with an electorate three million larger.
I mean these are facts Graham it's not difficult to check if your opinion is supported by reality, just because the far left wanted to leave in '75 doesn't mean they reflected majority opinion , they didnt.
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Post by hireton on Mar 29, 2023 17:24:43 GMT
An interesting assessment of recent opinion polls:
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 29, 2023 17:37:22 GMT
"That said- there was never a great wave of enthusiasm in favour of joining the EEC in the early 1970s. The Common Market was far from being popular and almost certainly contributed to Heath's defeat in early 1974" Referendum on continued membership June 1975 Yes 17,378,581 67.23% No 8,470,073 32.77% Valid votes 25,848,654 99.79% Invalid or blank votes 54,540 0.21% Total votes 25,903,194 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 40,086,677 So just the four million more votes in favour than Labour achieved in the landslide win 22 years later with an electorate three million larger. I mean these are facts Graham it's not difficult to check if your opinion is supported by reality, just because the far left wanted to leave in '75 doesn't mean they reflected majority opinion , they didnt. In '75 43% of those entitled to vote were for Remain and 21% were for Leave, 36% didn't vote. in '16 35% of those entitled to vote were for Remain and 37% were for Leave, 28% didn't vote. In between times the electorate had grown by roughly 6.5m or 16% |
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Post by James E on Mar 29, 2023 17:44:36 GMT
Tory MPs revolting, not a surprise Surely any village with an RAF base would be a "noisy village"?  |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 29, 2023 18:06:29 GMT
Surely most people have paid their mortgage off by age 50? I didn't. Not an extensive search but 'average' age is apparently 59 with "One is six to be paying off mortgage at 65"www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/one-is-six-to-be-paying-off-mortgage-at-65/The MAMM approach of Starmer was discussed before and ignores many issues: 1/ Whilst the average age might by 59 then the size of the mortgage should be relatively small by >50 (or at least have been a "choice" to add extensions, keep leveraging up, etc). 2/ A lot more people these days don't have mortgages as they never got onto the ladder (often due to lack of ability to save for a deposit if they have no 'bank of mum+dad' to help them) 3/ Those 'evil' landlords types might have mortgages for leveraging their BTL portfolios - maybe Starmer is hoping to win their vote? 4/ BoE (not HMG) set rates - unless Starmer wants to change that? Whilst Rishi might try to claim credit for halving inflation later this year then not a lot HMG can do WRT to the 'big' components of inflation. 5/ 'Man' (yikes). You can't say 'man' these days. Starmer should have at least said 'Middle Aged Mortgaged Person'. I hope he reports himself and conducts some unconscious bias training and gets the weekly update on new pronouns. Whilst I'm still a capybara for now then I'm thinking of trying life as a wombat. Collective noun for wombats is much better than boring old 'herd' and the combinations of pronouns x collective nouns would put me one step of the weekly wokerati update  |
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bardin1
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Post by bardin1 on Mar 29, 2023 18:06:56 GMT
Surely any village with an RAF base would be a "noisy village"? Not if all you have left in the RAF are gliders launched with rubber bands |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 29, 2023 18:07:07 GMT
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 29, 2023 18:09:58 GMT
Tory MPs revolting, not a surprise Surely any village with an RAF base would be a "noisy village"? I can assure you it really isn't. Doesn't even have a pub. In the days when Wethersfield was US Airforce, they built a cinema, bar, etc. on the site and the servicemen rarely bothered to leave their bit of 'little America'. Population is c1,200, so if the Home Office ever move the proposed 1,700 single male migrants on site they will considerably outnumber the local population. It is very rural and only accessible in and out by car. Altogether a strange choice, suggesting that the government have run out of ideas that are both workable and sufficiently cruel to please their back-benchers. |
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 29, 2023 18:14:56 GMT
Yes I posted recently that potential users of the service were being put off by how long it took to get a licence to launch. We are increasingly in a fast-paced world and the proceduralism can therefore be more of an issue, as with the vaccines. (IIRC it may have been a bit of a problem for Musk before now, wanting to launch more frequently and their regulators weren’t used to doing that). Possibly - or how much is it down to the sheer technical side? I do wonder about the additional complexity involved in the Virgin way of doing a launch - taking a rocket to altitude via an aircraft. Now that Musk and SpaceX have cracked the ability to reuse boosters, it's a hard act for others to follow. I foresee the SpaceX approach becoming increasingly the norm, and Virgin's approach going down in future as a rather quaint interlude. Well, the article I cited mentioned companies being concerned specifically about the licensing of launches, and Spacex’s capabilities have been a factor for some time now, it’s unlikely they caused a sudden drop off of interest in Virgin. In principle, the Virgin approach does have some advantages. While SpaceX might reuse the lower stage a dozen times or so, it still might need quite a bit of work refitting before reuse, whereas Virgin can reuse a Jumbo jet many times with an easier turnaround, offering lower costs and a potentially greater launch cadence. In theory launch prices might therefore be cheaper, but it seems Virgin spent a lot of money in development and have more to recoup. There are other advantages however. Using a plane means you can launch in poorer weather as you can fly to where it’s calmer before releasing the rocket. Another advantage is that here we are well-suited to launching into polar orbits, as there is not much to the north of us. Polar launches in the US are mostly restricted to Vandenberg, though you can launch into polar orbit from Cape Canaveral if you line up enough ducks. (SpaceX recently launched into a polar orbit from Florida for the first time in decades). An issue with the Virgin system is that it is restricted to smaller payloads, but then it can be costly to use a Falcon just for smaller payloads, unless you piggyback onto the launch of a bigger payload. But then you have to wait for a launch slot into an orbit you want, and it still won’t be for the smallest payloads. SpaceX recently did a launch dedicated to a load of very small satellites but don’t know how often they can do that. Some satellite companies may value being sited near launch facilities, and there can be a lot of value in sub-orbital launches to which the Virgin system is also suited, and there may be more potential demand for launches than SpaceX can cater for. Of course, getting Starship to work - a fully reusable system - may change the game again. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Mar 29, 2023 18:22:31 GMT
Regardless of whether it is right to stop Corbyn being a Labour candidate from a fairness viewpoint, I think many posting that it is a error of judgement have probably not been campaigning in recent months. labour are quite awful at reconciling what might be thought to be their position with their leadership. Con might have an utter scoundrel in charge, but they all stand behind him extolling his virtues. At least until they decide enough is enough. Whereas lab start bickering the moment a new leader is elected. |
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Post by alec on Mar 29, 2023 18:33:50 GMT
I get confused.
A returns policy for bottles is bad, but a returns policy for migrants is good.
Is it something to do with the deposit?
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Mar 29, 2023 18:36:24 GMT
Danny - there are "barges" and "barges". They range from little more than bare shells used for bulk carrying of coal, to the very luxurious. You may like to search for holidays on exactly such on the canals of France - you'll find them quite expensive. Ah, so instead of cheap hotels they are all being moved up to luxury nautical holidays. Dont think that quite what the minister wanted to convey? I seem to remember something about passenger ships permanently stuck off London or somewhere which started causing a huge amount of pollution because of the fuel they were burning to power the ship. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Mar 29, 2023 18:39:13 GMT
Ah, but times have moved on too. The Tories would ensure people are interested in Corbyn and whilst Labour had great appeal it was never enough to beat the Tories, partly because they demonised Corbyn to get their vote out. It only needs a concentrated campaign to remind their floaters why they were so scared of a Corbyn government and you've got more Tory votes. yes they demonised Corbyn, but labour MPs actively encouraged it! The real problem however was a refusal to get clearly behind remain. It was a largely two sided election, for and against brexit, and labour sat it out. |
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Post by Rafwan on Mar 29, 2023 18:48:20 GMT
Rafwan ... That's fine no harm done . ... I do however feel and evidence supports this that some anti-Semitic individuals didn't feel particularly uncomfortable in the Labour party while he was leader. This doesn't exactly amount to facilitating antisemitism but it's not the robust removal that might have been hoped for either. ... OK, thanks. But I don't think there is any evidence to support this view at all. It has no basis in reality. Insofar as there is any evidence (YouGov) it shows that antisemitic attitudes in the LP declined over Corbyn's term. The EHRC examined hundreds of accusations but could find only TWO cases and one of those was Ken Livingstone (tell me, do you honestly believe he is antisemitic?). Robust removal? Expulsions when Corbyn was leader were brutal. Two of the first to be ejected on this issue were both black. I can tell you that is something that makes me feel very uncomfortable. The other two cases above had already been removed before EHRC began its work. One M.P. (and former council leader) was expelled for saying the L.P. was too apologetic about its fight against antisemitism. Another (Jewish) local councillor was kicked out for making a simple play on words. This was all done under the ill-informed and self-defeating 'zero-tolerance' policy. Have I missed something or got wrong? If so I will again withdraw and apologise. Does it matter? Perhaps not. But if I am right, the view is based on a falsehood and so matches the definition of 'doctrinaire' that you previously offered and complained about. |
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