26-Nov 2022 : LAB: 50% / CON: 27% / LDEM: 9% / GRN: 4%

[neilj]

More blue on blue, when even Theresa May, Iain Duncan Smith and Geoffrey Cox express concerns about the tory illegal immigration bill, you know there is a problem

[alec]

Really fascinating article here on Alzheimers - www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/26/uk-on-verge-of-new-dawn-for-dementia-treatments-says-taskforce-chair

On the face of it, this is a good news story. It hones in on the new 'wonder-drug' which is claimed will herald the start of a new dawn in dementia treatment, but there are issues here. The published results from the lecanemab trials are decidedly mixed, with high side effects (fatal, in several cases) and while the article suggests we are at the start of a new era of drug development, many experts in the field seem to be coalescing around a rather radical alternative; that the solutions lies not within the realms of big pharma drug development, but in the arena of good old fashioned public health education.

Dementia is increasingly being recognised as part of inflammatory aging, and the solutions have been with us all along; good diet, exercise, mental stimulation, reduction of alcohol, sugar, avoidance of infection, etc etc - just a healthy life style that reduces the stress on the bodies immune system and restricts the inflammatory responses that create the dementia problem, along with many others.

Unfortunately, since really quite recently, western society has been obsessed with medicalising all health related issues, with the pharma industry complicit in this and only too willing to create the perception that development of very expensive drugs is the answer to every condition, rather than the unglamorous and extremely cheap healthy lifestyle measures. We've seen something similar with covid, where the false answer is to rely entirely on vaccines and abandon all public health measures, going against the lessons learned from a century of fighting infectious pathogens.

With lecanemab there has been an epic amount of 'pitch rolling' by the manufacturers, who see this as a golden goose, but it's vital for the future physical and financial health of western societies that we don't completely fall for the idea that permitting large numbers of people to become sick through unhealthy lifestyles is going to be fine because the pharma industry will have a pill for every ill.

[pjw1961]

Apr 26, 2023 15:55:11 GMT alec said:

Really fascinating article here on Alzheimers - www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/26/uk-on-verge-of-new-dawn-for-dementia-treatments-says-taskforce-chair

On the face of it, this is a good news story. It hones in on the new 'wonder-drug' which is claimed will herald the start of a new dawn in dementia treatment, but there are issues here. The published results from the lecanemab trials are decidedly mixed, with high side effects (fatal, in several cases) and while the article suggests we are at the start of a new era of drug development, many experts in the field seem to be coalescing around a rather radical alternative; that the solutions lies not within the realms of big pharma drug development, but in the arena of good old fashioned public health education.

Dementia is increasingly being recognised as part of inflammatory aging, and the solutions have been with us all along; good diet, exercise, mental stimulation, reduction of alcohol, sugar, avoidance of infection, etc etc - just a healthy life style that reduces the stress on the bodies immune system and restricts the inflammatory responses that create the dementia problem, along with many others.

Unfortunately, since really quite recently, western society has been obsessed with medicalising all health related issues, with the pharma industry complicit in this and only too willing to create the perception that development of very expensive drugs is the answer to every condition, rather than the unglamorous and extremely cheap healthy lifestyle measures. We've seen something similar with covid, where the false answer is to rely entirely on vaccines and abandon all public health measures, going against the lessons learned from a century of fighting infectious pathogens.

With lecanemab there has been an epic amount of 'pitch rolling' by the manufacturers, who see this as a golden goose, but it's vital for the future physical and financial health of western societies that we don't completely fall for the idea that permitting large numbers of people to become sick through unhealthy lifestyles is going to be fine because the pharma industry will have a pill for every ill.

100% with you on the part I have highlighted, but worth mentioning that there is also a genetic element to dementia vulnerability, as there is with most diseases. We also need to do something about aggressive food and retail industry practices aimed at maximising profit at the expense of health, along the lines of what was done with the tobacco industry. 

[Deleted]

Apr 26, 2023 15:38:59 GMT alec said:

colin - I note that you have expressed your pleasure that Andrew Brigden has been thrown out of the Conservative Party for comparing the mRNA vaccines to the Holocaust. That's good news indeed, as you say, but there is something missing here.

I'm a little bit baffled that you, and all the other RoC posters on here, weren't up in arms about this when he said it, which was weeks ago. It seems it's OK to join the pile on against Diane Abbott, but everything seems so much more muted when someone actually falsely compares the Holocaust if they are no a Labour MP.

Strange.

I actually agreed with Abbott on her central point-that "racism" and "prejudice" are often conflated & aren't the same thing.

Unfortunately she then proceeded to demonstrate that she didn't understand that , at all.

( As I explained then, I dislike the word "racist" anyway. Its a lazy catchall with no credible meaning for humans.  "Prejudice" is much more effective. It requires an adjective -like Colour, Religious, Cultural etc -which forces a much more focused and cerebral  examination and critique of the attitude . imo )

Sorry if I missed the Torches and Pitchforks after Bridgen's remark. Very remiss of me . Don't really hang on his every word-whereas Abbott is always good value.

[wb61]

Newspeak

Braverman also takes the view that people who enter the UK on small boats are breaking the law by definition, because entering the country through this route, without proper paperwork, is illegal, the Home Office says.


Apparently that is the basis upon which she said this morning that asylum seekers do not have British values

[pjw1961]

Apr 26, 2023 15:48:01 GMT neilj said:

More blue on blue, when even Theresa May, Iain Duncan Smith and Geoffrey Cox express concerns about the tory illegal immigration bill, you know there is a problem

And earlier in the day this from Micheal Fabricant: 

"In the Commons Kemi Badenoch is taking questions on matters relating to women and equalities. Michael Fabricant (Con) told her he was concerned trans people were being “demonised”."

What is happening is that people who are right wing but also recognisably Conservatives are slowly realising that their party is now run by people who come from a very different political tradition. The problem is that they are not prepared to do anything worthwhile about it. Will Theresa May and company vote the Illegal Immigration Bill down? I think we all know the answer to that. Welcome to the National Conservative future.

[alec]

For those amused by my war on marketing algorithms, this is how a recent email I received from Channel 4 commences....

"Hi Knob-head,

We’ve got some big (and very simple… ) news. ‘All 4’ is becoming ‘Channel 4’....."

Small joys in a dreary world.

[alec]

colin - " Very remiss of me ." Not at all - I'd say it's very normal. You are wont to accuse leftists of applying double standards, but your own dual morality system is often highly apparent.

[c-a-r-f-r-e-w]

Apr 26, 2023 16:26:47 GMT pjw1961 said:

Apr 26, 2023 15:48:01 GMT neilj said:

More blue on blue, when even Theresa May, Iain Duncan Smith and Geoffrey Cox express concerns about the tory illegal immigration bill, you know there is a problem

…

What is happening is that people who are right wing but also recognisably Conservatives are slowly realising that their party is now run by people who come from a very different political tradition….

Cuckoo politics abounds, PJ!

[Deleted]

Apr 26, 2023 16:24:22 GMT wb61 said:

Newspeak

Braverman also takes the view that people who enter the UK on small boats are breaking the law by definition, because entering the country through this route, without proper paperwork, is illegal, the Home Office says.


Apparently that is the basis upon which she said this morning that asylum seekers do not have British values

But since they are only breaking the law in " a very specific and limited way " surely they are very much living up to British values.

[alurqa]

Apr 26, 2023 15:17:38 GMT domjg said:

Wtf, I thought only Mark could open a new general discussion thread. @mark I'm sure will sort this out. Can't believe the cheek of Trev.

Just to be clear, and so Mark sees this, Mark's login name is admin. His display name is Mark. In other words use @ admin rather than @ mark. (Move your mouse over my first Mark mention to see his login name.)

[Mark]

*** NEW POLLING THREAD ALERT ***

The new polling thread can be found here : ukpollingreport2.proboards.com/thread/63/april-2023-lab-con-ldem

While it wasn't started by me, please can we all use it as the current polling thread.

[hireton]

Honest Bob Jenrick shoeing the Tory Party's respect for facts and Parliament:

[Danny]

Apr 26, 2023 15:55:11 GMT alec said:

Unfortunately, since really quite recently, western society has been obsessed with medicalising all health related issues, with the pharma industry complicit in this and only too willing to create the perception that development of very expensive drugs is the answer to every condition, rather than the unglamorous and extremely cheap healthy lifestyle measures. We've seen something similar with covid, where the false answer is to rely entirely on vaccines and abandon all public health measures, going against the lessons learned from a century of fighting infectious pathogens.

There is of course no known and practical way to prevent spread of covid. If there was, we would have done it instead of lockdown.

However the real problem with your advice is that it does not prevent people developing Altzheimers, or anything else. Sure, advise people not to smoke and it cuts heart disease, but heart disease still exisits, it just strikes later in life. All sorts of good advice has been contributing to lengthening lifespans, but everyone still gets to the point of illness and then death....just later.

So whether or not you can reduce risks in a lifetime, people will eventually need these drugs, if they work. Bearing in mind that medical history is littered with wonder drugs (not least the covid vaccine) which in the end failed to live up to optimistic predictions.

I can tell you how to cut the epidemic of Altzheimers we now have. Encourage smoking so people die at an age before they generally get Altzheimers. Thats how we used to control it.

[mercian]

1 local election later today (and counting today). Safe Labour seat but it will be interesting to see how the various percentages end up.

[Mr Poppy]

Apr 27, 2023 0:30:44 GMT mercian said:

1 local election later today (and counting today). Safe Labour seat but it will be interesting to see how the various percentages end up.

There is a new thread. I see you are back within 48hrs and hence were perhaps just taking some time off and clearly not banned as apparently the minimum ban is 48hrs. 

You might have seen that I asked you/others to state if/when sanctions (yellow or red cards) have been given but I retract those requests as apparently I shouldn't 'encourage' others to show if/when any moderation has been conducted. 

[Deleted]

Dec 1, 2022 16:03:23 GMT nickp said:

Dec 1, 2022 14:07:56 GMT @crofty said:

Fuck off - most people are aware of suitable words for particular situations but you’re clearly an exception. Are you suggesting there are no words at all that you consider unsuitable sometimes or in any situation ever?

Fuck off yourself

Sure this was you giving me etiquette lessons. Obviously telling someone their poem is the worse you’ve ever read is polite.

[crossbat11]

Lewis Baston, an elections specialist, has written an analysis of the results so far for the Guardian. He thinks the outlook looks better for Labour than some of the council seat change figures imply. Mainly for the reasons I've highlighted in bold below:-

"The Blackpool South byelection was not a routine mid-term setback for the party of government. For a start, it comes well into the fifth year of the parliament and is therefore late-term; the swing is also much higher than normal for mid-terms. We have become used to swings of more than 20 percentage points and Blackpool South is the fifth Conservative seat to fall to Labour on such a large movement in the last year.



No previous parliament since 1945 has had more than two such wins for the main opposition. Blackpool’s verdict looks like an electoral death sentence for the Conservative government. While it is true that the turnout was very low (32.5%) this makes the disappearance of the Conservative vote all the more remarkable. Fewer people voted Tory in 2024 (3,218) than comprised Scott Benton’s marginal majority in 2019 (3,690). Labour polled well over half the vote; its victory owed nothing to the rise of Reform UK to threaten the Tories’ hold on second place …



The results demonstrate how we no longer have the same party system for different levels of election. In Blackpool South, Labour dominated the centre-left vote, the Lib Dems and Greens both losing their deposit. The rightwing vote was divided almost evenly between the Conservatives and Reform UK, giving Labour a massive margin of victory. In the local elections. the pattern is different, with Lib Dems and Greens having local strongholds and dividing the centre-left, while Reform’s limited participation in the local elections meant the Conservatives did not have to worry about vote splits outside a few localities like Hartlepool and Sunderland.



The toll of local government seat losses for the Conservatives, daunting though it may be as the day’s counting proceeds, is understating the potential for a general election drubbing."

My reading of this is that tactical voting on the centre left is going to bite the Tories backsides in parliamentary elections much more than it ever does in local ones.

[domjg]

May 3, 2024 10:14:57 GMT crossbat11 said:

Lewis Baston, an elections specialist, has written an analysis of the results so far for the Guardian. He thinks the outlook looks better for Labour than some of the council seat change figures imply. Mainly for the reasons I've highlighted in bold below:-

"The Blackpool South byelection was not a routine mid-term setback for the party of government. For a start, it comes well into the fifth year of the parliament and is therefore late-term; the swing is also much higher than normal for mid-terms. We have become used to swings of more than 20 percentage points and Blackpool South is the fifth Conservative seat to fall to Labour on such a large movement in the last year.



No previous parliament since 1945 has had more than two such wins for the main opposition. Blackpool’s verdict looks like an electoral death sentence for the Conservative government. While it is true that the turnout was very low (32.5%) this makes the disappearance of the Conservative vote all the more remarkable. Fewer people voted Tory in 2024 (3,218) than comprised Scott Benton’s marginal majority in 2019 (3,690). Labour polled well over half the vote; its victory owed nothing to the rise of Reform UK to threaten the Tories’ hold on second place …



The results demonstrate how we no longer have the same party system for different levels of election. In Blackpool South, Labour dominated the centre-left vote, the Lib Dems and Greens both losing their deposit. The rightwing vote was divided almost evenly between the Conservatives and Reform UK, giving Labour a massive margin of victory. In the local elections. the pattern is different, with Lib Dems and Greens having local strongholds and dividing the centre-left, while Reform’s limited participation in the local elections meant the Conservatives did not have to worry about vote splits outside a few localities like Hartlepool and Sunderland.



The toll of local government seat losses for the Conservatives, daunting though it may be as the day’s counting proceeds, is understating the potential for a general election drubbing."

My reading of this is that tactical voting on the centre left is going to bite the Tories backsides in parliamentary elections much more than it ever does in local ones.

You've put that on an old thread cb.