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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 20, 2023 8:23:38 GMT
Trump unable to stand in Colorado, their Court declares. I don't think I'd get too excited yet. If it gets past appeal, it's bound to end up in the US Supreme Court. I suspect it wouldn't go well for Colorado there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67768873But hope Springs eternal in the state of Colorado.
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Post by mandolinist on Dec 20, 2023 8:30:05 GMT
Re; Peter Bone and by-election. It seems Bone is still denying any wrongdoing, I would suggest that he is likely to stand in the by-election as an Independent which would seriously weaken the Conservative vote and therefore make a Labour victory much more likely?
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 20, 2023 8:40:38 GMT
alec "At this stage, he's the favourite" Well actually he isn't it's a year out and some of the polls place Biden ahead of the last 10 3 place Biden ahead, 5 place the traitor in the lead and two are ties, all bar one are within margin of error. Other polling says that 30% of republican identifying voters won't vote for the traitor if he's convicted of a criminal offence, he's currently charged with 91, 60% of independents responded in the same way. The traitor has had a toxic influence on GOP candidates at every election since 2018, MAGA candidates routinely lose to Democrats in red areas, the house and Senate elections were the worst performance for an opposition in decades.The decision to strip women from control of their own bodies has been a massive electoral own goal. Biden's problem is that While he can beat the demented, fascist traitor he would find it difficult against another less tainted and younger candidate. If the traitor is removed from the Ballot Biden should stand down in favour of a younger candidate, my choice would be Georgia senator Raphael Warnock At 54 a relative youngster and proven capabilities of winning in a red state.
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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 20, 2023 9:24:48 GMT
alec "At this stage, he's the favourite" Well actually he isn't it's a year out and some of the polls place Biden ahead of the last 10 3 place Biden ahead, 5 place the traitor in the lead and two are ties, all bar one are within margin of error. Other polling says that 30% of republican identifying voters won't vote for the traitor if he's convicted of a criminal offence, he's currently charged with 91, 60% of independents responded in the same way. The traitor has had a toxic influence on GOP candidates at every election since 2018, MAGA candidates routinely lose to Democrats in red areas, the house and Senate elections were the worst performance for an opposition in decades.The decision to strip women from control of their own bodies has been a massive electoral own goal. Biden's problem is that While he can beat the demented, fascist traitor he would find it difficult against another less tainted and younger candidate. If the traitor is removed from the Ballot Biden should stand down in favour of a younger candidate, my choice would be Georgia senator Raphael Warnock At 54 a relative youngster and proven capabilities of winning in a red state. I tend to agree with this. Ballot box evidence over the last two years supports it and you could argue that the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections did too, albeit the antiquated electoral college system got Trump over the line in 2016 despite him losing the popular vote by over two million. It's often intrigued me as to what lies behind the campaign in the media, and amongst many politicians too, to build up and inflate the likelihood of Trump being elected in 2024. It's not totally inconceivable but we're starting to have to believe an awful lot of impossible things before breakfast now, I think, to imagine it coming to pass. Leaving aside the gathering mountain of legal impediments to him even making it on to the ballot paper in November next year, his chances of persuading enough mainstream centre right American voters to join his admittedly large Tea Party core in enough numbers for him to win, are slim to vanishingly small, I think. Opinion polls this far out are likely to see him benefiting by default from Biden's mid-term unpopularity. I'm pretty confident that when US voters are asked to go to polling stations to actually decide who is to be their President, Trump, should he even be the Republican candidate, won't be who the majority opt for, whatever misgivings they have about the incumbent. He'll prove to be Biden's best friend, I think, despite the sound and fury and swooning from distant global right-wing admirers bulling up his chances. He's key to their fantasy of a Far Right world on all our doorsteps. They're coming to get you liberals everywhere. The will of the people, the silent majority blah de blah de blah... The Revenge of Common Sense coming to a ballot box near you.
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 20, 2023 9:31:03 GMT
In scrabbling around trying to find some shit that will stick news. The right wing media having failed to inflame the public regarding Starmer's purchase of a donkey sanctuary and his efforts to prevent a pooch being euthanized have now got another cunning stunt. Apparently while a Criminal law defence barrister Keir Starmer QC represented some nasty people. Forget about the presumption of innocence Forget about the basic entitlement of a defendant to be represented in court. Why wasn't Starmer only representing nice people! Moving away from the basic underlying absurdity let's look at the practicalities. Criminal defence barristers work on the cab rank principle, unless there's exceptional reasons why you shouldn't take a case, you take it when it's your turn. Thinking the defendant isn't nice isn't an acceptable reason for refusing. It's another blindingly obvious
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 20, 2023 9:45:15 GMT
jib Both the trial judge and the supreme court held that number 45 was an insurrectionist , a traitor in other words. The trial judge bizarrely concluded that the holder of the office of President of the United States wasn't actually an office holder of the United States and consequently 14:3 amendment of the constitution didn't apply. It's flawed reasoning which is what the Supreme court concluded. Supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch actually used to be a Colorado supreme court judge, his ruling in that post was that it's up to the state to conclude who or who isn't eligible to appear on the Ballot for any elected post. The supreme court ruling cited his decision in its ruling. So while the Colorado supreme court was all appointed by a democratic governor it's not true to say it's judgement was partisan. The United States supreme court judgement on the other hand almost certainly will be.
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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 20, 2023 9:56:51 GMT
steve
Looks like it's started already. Labour campaign strategists have already predicted that the next election campaign will be one of the dirtiest ever fought, and I think they're right.
The Tories and their powerful allies in the establishment and court press know that desperate times will warrant fairly desperate measures if the ultimate disaster and national betrayal of a Labour government is to be averted.
If Labour thought the Tory press got down and dirty with Corbyn, they ain't seen nothing yet. Corbyn was a far Left convenient punch bag and pantomime villain that they delighted in kicking for kicking's sake. They didn't really see him as a genuine threat though. Starmer is different. He's coming to take their pudding bowl away and derail the gravy train. The bastard could actually win.
All bets off now. Get Starmer. Here we go.
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Post by alec on Dec 20, 2023 10:05:31 GMT
steve and crossbat11 - I see what you mean re Trump and hope you are right. Certainly, Trumps electoral success is distinctly limited, once you address the level of losses Republicans close to him have suffered. One plus point I think is that as these losses have mounted, the number of key states where Republican pro-Trumpers are in positions where they can doctor or obscure the ballot results has diminished. In general, it's difficult to steal an election like he would, if you don't control a key cadre of administrative positions, and the republicans have been steadily losing these in many states.
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domjg
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Post by domjg on Dec 20, 2023 10:21:45 GMT
steve Looks like it's started already. Labour campaign strategists have already predicted that the next election campaign will be one of the dirtiest ever fought, and I think they're right. The Tories and their powerful allies in the establishment and court press know that desperate times will warrant fairly desperate measures if the ultimate disaster and national betrayal of a Labour government is to be averted. If Labour thought the Tory press got down and dirty with Corbyn, they ain't seen nothing yet. Corbyn was a far Left convenient punch bag and pantomime villain that they delighted in kicking for kicking's sake. They didn't really see him as a genuine threat though. Starmer is different. He's coming to take their pudding bowl away and derail the gravy train. The bastard could actually win. All bets off now. Get Starmer. Here we go. I predict that being nasty, grubby people who assume, as such people tend to, that most of the electorate are like that too they will hugely overcook it and just end up repulsing all but those who would have always voted tory/reform anyway. Will be horrible to watch though, and will make us feel a bit like we're living in America but then everything emanating from the tory party is horrible these days so what's new. And Britain is far from being America, in every way, something that many in the tory party have never been able to grasp.
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shevii
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Post by shevii on Dec 20, 2023 10:34:42 GMT
steve Looks like it's started already. Labour campaign strategists have already predicted that the next election campaign will be one of the dirtiest ever fought, and I think they're right. The Tories and their powerful allies in the establishment and court press know that desperate times will warrant fairly desperate measures if the ultimate disaster and national betrayal of a Labour government is to be averted. If Labour thought the Tory press got down and dirty with Corbyn, they ain't seen nothing yet. Corbyn was a far Left convenient punch bag and pantomime villain that they delighted in kicking for kicking's sake. They didn't really see him as a genuine threat though. Starmer is different. He's coming to take their pudding bowl away and derail the gravy train. The bastard could actually win. All bets off now. Get Starmer. Here we go. Not convinced about this to be honest apart from the sense that elections always get dirtier over time when the (right wing) press find they can get away with it and try for even more. Very possible Murdoch papers will turn out for Starmer I think which leaves it down to Tory HQ, who will be infighting and not on message, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. The big advantage the Tories have had over the years is that the right wing papers can do their dirty work for them and if it doesn't work then they don't have to take the flack. Corbyn threatened their way of life, Starmer doesn't. Obviously memory is not good from 25 years ago but I felt the press went all out on Kinnock but went fairly easy on Blair not least of course because the Sun was supporting him. That said, at the moment I seem to be getting a lot of feeds for the (paywalled) Telegraph on yahoo news and some of the articles are indeed downright batshit crazy- the Telegraph seems to have gone steadily more right wing over the past 15 years or so.
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shevii
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Post by shevii on Dec 20, 2023 10:36:34 GMT
Also if you were a Tory supporting newspaper they must realise that the game's up and save their ammunition for a future date when it might not make them look so stupid and out of touch.
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shevii
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Post by shevii on Dec 20, 2023 10:43:26 GMT
I rather disagree and believe Labour ought to win Wellingborough. The party has history in the seat - having held it 1997 - 2005 when narrowly lost - also 1964 - December 1969 -and 1945 - 1959. This is not at all like Mid Bedfordshire. When you look at that projection and potential for squeeze factor I tend to agree with you. Plenty of squeeze there for Lab of LD and Green votes, especially LD, plus Labour has always been better at getting out the vote than Tories if they put their mind to it which I think they will in this case. I think General Election would be much more in the mix but I think Lab will win this.
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Post by johntel on Dec 20, 2023 11:01:16 GMT
alec "At this stage, he's the favourite" Well actually he isn't it's a year out and some of the polls place Biden ahead of the last 10 3 place Biden ahead, 5 place the traitor in the lead and two are ties, all bar one are within margin of error. Other polling says that 30% of republican identifying voters won't vote for the traitor if he's convicted of a criminal offence, he's currently charged with 91, 60% of independents responded in the same way. The traitor has had a toxic influence on GOP candidates at every election since 2018, MAGA candidates routinely lose to Democrats in red areas, the house and Senate elections were the worst performance for an opposition in decades.The decision to strip women from control of their own bodies has been a massive electoral own goal. Biden's problem is that While he can beat the demented, fascist traitor he would find it difficult against another less tainted and younger candidate. If the traitor is removed from the Ballot Biden should stand down in favour of a younger candidate, my choice would be Georgia senator Raphael Warnock At 54 a relative youngster and proven capabilities of winning in a red state. Biden is currently 23/10 with the bookies which looks like good value to me. They have Trump nailed on for Republican candidate and favourite to win.
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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 20, 2023 11:20:21 GMT
johntel
Same bookies that had the Tories favourites to hold Mid-Bedfordshire, I presume? And that was only a few days before polling too! Some water still to go under the bridge in the US.
P S. I see your man Cooper has gone at Forest. Nuno, the former Wolves and Spurs man, already appointed to replace him. Your thoughts?
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 20, 2023 11:37:51 GMT
Congratulations to the Sunakered regime for halving the inflation that of course according to the Sunakered regime had nothing to do with them in the first place. It's only because of the tireless efforts of team Rishi that the international price of oil has fallen and that the other factors that influenced inflation and had nothing to do with them last Christmas have had nothing to do with them again this Christmas. Attachment Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2023 11:46:12 GMT
johntel Same bookies that had the Tories favourites to hold Mid-Bedfordshire, I presume? And that was only a few days before polling too! Some water still to go under the bridge in the US. P S. I see your man Cooper has gone at Forest. Nuno, the former Wolves and Spurs man, already appointed to replace him. Your thoughts? My thoughts are that it’s a strange appointment. Obviously he will quickly become hugely unpopular with Forest supporters if results aren’t good immediately and that will be a problem for him.
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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 20, 2023 12:40:25 GMT
johntel Same bookies that had the Tories favourites to hold Mid-Bedfordshire, I presume? And that was only a few days before polling too! Some water still to go under the bridge in the US. P S. I see your man Cooper has gone at Forest. Nuno, the former Wolves and Spurs man, already appointed to replace him. Your thoughts? My thoughts are that it’s a strange appointment. Obviously he will quickly become hugely unpopular with Forest supporters if results aren’t good immediately and that will be a problem for him. Birmingham City sacked a Manager who was popular with both fans and players and it afforded his successor little in the way of a honeymoon. Results needed to go for Rooney from the very beginning. They didn't and nany fans have turned against him accordingly. He was barracked by some after his very first home game which they lost. Nuno is in a similar position at Forest now, I think. Mind you, if he quickly turns things around, Cooper will soon be forgotten. That tends to be the way with football fans.
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Dec 20, 2023 12:44:36 GMT
I had a lot of time for Nuno at Wolves, got us promoted and did well in the Premier league (in terms of a Wolves performance that is 😀)
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Dec 20, 2023 12:49:59 GMT
My thoughts are that it’s a strange appointment. Obviously he will quickly become hugely unpopular with Forest supporters if results aren’t good immediately and that will be a problem for him. Birmingham City sacked a Manager who was popular with both fans and players and it afforded his successor little in the way of a honeymoon. Results needed to go for Rooney from the very beginning. They didn't and nany fans have turned against him accordingly. He was barracked by some after his very first home game which they lost. Nuno is in a similar position at Forest now, I think. Mind you, if he quickly turns things around, Cooper will soon be forgotten. That tends to be the way with football fans. Sounds like the Conservative Party's attitude to its leaders
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Post by robbiealive on Dec 20, 2023 13:18:45 GMT
THE C-WORD CONSULTANCY I ranted about the Parl candidates chosen by Tory Associations without knowing anything about it. We can't all emulate the expertise of the "eight". So I had a look at the 90-odd new Tory MPs in 2019. These would reflect recent decisions by selection committees. Tho the sample is skewed, enumerating many Redwall seats which would hv looked hopeless Tory targets & hence unattractive to the carpetbaggers. A lot of the Redwallers have sml majorities as everyone on here knows. About a third are female.
1. Over a one-third have a record as local councillors & if you add those who don't, but hv strong or v strong local connections, you get over 50%. The associations pick their own & must know their record vis-a-vis Brexit etc. A largish number of newbies hv screamed their belief in Brexit while a few shameful Remain voters declare they are born-again. A numer of the localists have trekked round the country coming 3rd in hopeless seats for the Tories in previous elections 2. The next most common route, just over 20%, is taken by the carpetbaggers, professional politicians, tho some have local roots: researchers, aides, spads, speech writers, etc, though most have operated at a fairly modest level, eg aides to MPs 3. The rest are hard to summarise but are mostly accounted for by a background in: finance, one or two bankers; professions: law of course plus accountants, etc, etc. There is also a sprinkling of military, security specialists, public sector, NHS/medics, arts. One or two appear to be in the wrong party. Eg, C Mackrory Truro, who voted Leave but is a passionate environmentalist & clean beaches & rivers fanatic. Ah well. 4, Nearly all have degrees but there is much less evidence of public school/Oxbridge than in the higher reaches of the party. 5. Employment/Business. This is mainly private sector, some working for large corporations, one or two internationally, usually in marketing or PR. Many run sml businesses. By far the most common are small consultancies/PR which arise out of their previous careers. So people who work in Tech/IT becomes tech consultants and so forth. One or two make things: wood-working, embroidery & Saxby for North Devon made bras. Perhaps she was inspired by La Grande Mone [I'm working this pun to death). 6. The employment/business areas which are poorly represented: Public sector, esp education; manufacturing, construction, transport & areas in which migrants are important, retail, hospitality, private health sector. The imprint of localism was stronger than I expected, perhaps that's a recent trend, & fewer recruits from finance/banking, larger businesses. One supposes the grind of politics has recently offered few attractions to those who who have made big money. Sunak is an exception in this respect & the fact he had such an easy path to a safe seat.
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Post by mark61 on Dec 20, 2023 14:35:10 GMT
Seeing that Baroness Mone has recently made some news, I checked when the Covid Inquiry begins module 5 Procurement etc, it starts Feb 2024 and presumably live evidence will be called. This issue may then have increased salience and the potential to harm the reputation of the govt. and their friends. This issue is in some ways easier to grasp than those explored in Module 2. and if Political favouritism and profiteering are shown to have taken place this will go with the grain of many peoples current view on the issue.
Baroness Mone is currently in the spotlight for a 30% return on a £200 million contract for largely unused and arguably unusable PPE ( someone in the Guardian commented on the rate of return 'this wasn't Haute Couture'! ). I don't know who is running her PR. but the recent puff piece masquerading as a documentary on you tube and her interview with Laura K. on Sunday (in the Prince Andrew style) have not it appears had the desired effect! As Marina Hyde concluded her piece on the subject ' If you made £65 million of pure profit for helping during the most acute national crisis, then you didn't help, you helped yourself.
However Baroness Mone, the Girl from Glasgow looks like she will not accept being thrown from the Bus lightly, and might we hope she will take a few with her? It would be good to see Mr Gove interviewed in detail about this perhaps by Victoria Derbyshire. Again this has the potential for at least acute embarrassment for the Govt if that cup is not already running over.
There are two likely by-elections in Conservative held seats early next year both of which will likely fall to Labour, an expected winter crisis in the NHS, and it appears the deleted Govt Whatsapp and Text messages may have further to run as per Penny Mordants intervention today. Set against that the Govt have hit 1 out of the 5 targets they asked we judge them on this year and that is the one where they had least agency. It is looking like the perfect storm.
Now, for Sir Keir is it steady as you go, or does he decide the reassurance of the centre voter has gone far enough and he begins in the new year to set out a positive programme for how Britain will be better under Labour, after all an GE may only be 5 months away.
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Post by alec on Dec 20, 2023 15:00:51 GMT
The 'dirtiest election ever'. Every election in my adult life has been billed 'the dirtiest ever'. Suggest we all move along. If there's dirt, it'll be thrown. As it always has been. And as shevii says - if these polls stay as they are, many of the slingers will be changing sides.
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Post by pete on Dec 20, 2023 15:06:08 GMT
This is right up there with the Mail attacking Starmer for buying a field so his disabled mum could set up a donkey sanctuary Given this and today's front page both being spectacular examples of Mailisms backfiring - have we reached a point where the staff are starting to troll Dacre et al - if so we really have reached a tipping point Highlights how stupid Daily Mail readers are in the comment section. Noted the moron reporter called Starmer a lefty lawyer, no such thing when there following the law.
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Post by alec on Dec 20, 2023 15:09:27 GMT
A couple of early Christmas presents; Covid nasal spray vaccines have, so far, disappointed, but this new technology is gathering pace and innovations are pointing to something more promising. This discussion, from Nature, sums up the current state of play regarding second generation covid jabs (or snorts, whatever) - www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04003-4 There have been advances in deliver methods (straight into the lungs, rather than a simple nasal spray, plus the finding that for these vaccines, mRNA technology appears less effective. This is much needed. New research is throwing up some issues with the mRNA jabs that need sorting out, including the production of 'ghost proteins' in around 25% of recipients, as the immune system responds in the wrong way to the vaccine. This appears harmless, but is an issue which needs resolving. The lack of sterilizing immunity conferred also means that long term, the vaccine only strategy will fail, and the high level of side effects and vaccine injury really should be driving research to better alternatives. The second snippet is this, from the WHO - worldhealthorganizationdepartmentofcommunications.cmail20.com/t/d-e-vkkjyud-jyyhcddb-f/They have upgrading JN.1 to a Variant of Interest, but notably are now recommending universal masking in healthcare settings, use of masks in crowded indoor ares, better ventilation, with testing and isolation of those with symptoms. All good, solid advice, like we've done for hundreds of years, but have somehowe forgotten since 2022. It's good to know that we're not the odd ones. It's those going about business completely normally that are out of line with the mainstream science advice.
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Post by graham on Dec 20, 2023 15:10:48 GMT
Given this and today's front page both being spectacular examples of Mailisms backfiring - have we reached a point where the staff are starting to troll Dacre et al - if so we really have reached a tipping point Highlights how stupid Daily Mail readers are in the comment section. Noted the moron reporter called Starmer a lefty lawyer, no such thing when there following the law. It would be far more damning if Starmer had stopped a Tory from being put down. That would certainly have cost him many votes.
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 20, 2023 15:35:09 GMT
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Post by alec on Dec 20, 2023 15:42:42 GMT
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Post by jib on Dec 20, 2023 16:02:50 GMT
Gov.uk; "Londoners will enjoy smoother and safer journeys, as the government today (20 December 2023) announces how London boroughs will benefit from £235 million in extra funding which has been redirected from HS2 to resurface roads across the capital over the next 11 years." Do the Tories even know where the Red Wall is? Or have they just given up and are just taking the p*ss?
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Post by johntel on Dec 20, 2023 16:04:41 GMT
johntel I see your man Cooper has gone at Forest. Nuno, the former Wolves and Spurs man, already appointed to replace him. Your thoughts? Yes, very sad to see Cooper go, he'd really brought the club back to life after so many years in the doldrums. The atmosphere at the City Ground in the last 2 years has been better even than in the Clough glory years. Cooper managed to generate a fantastic fighting team spirit - but somehow it hasn't worked with the recent expensive signings and there have even been fallings-out with the remaining local players. Our main goalscorer Awoniyi has been injured most of the time and selling Johnson too means that there's been very little attacking threat. My gut feeling is that it's probably the right decision to make the change at this point. Happy with Nuno, he looks to have a pretty good track record, and I'm sure the fans will give him a fair crack of the whip. Hopefully we'll get the same new manager bounce that Villa did :-) Our owner, Marinakis, is incredibly ambitious and is expecting rather than hoping to get Forest back into Europe. We shall see!
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Post by davem on Dec 20, 2023 16:30:38 GMT
My thoughts are that it’s a strange appointment. Obviously he will quickly become hugely unpopular with Forest supporters if results aren’t good immediately and that will be a problem for him. Birmingham City sacked a Manager who was popular with both fans and players and it afforded his successor little in the way of a honeymoon. Results needed to go for Rooney from the very beginning. They didn't and nany fans have turned against him accordingly. He was barracked by some after his very first home game which they lost. Nuno is in a similar position at Forest now, I think. Mind you, if he quickly turns things around, Cooper will soon be forgotten. That tends to be the way with football fans. As a Sunderland fan , we might have a similar thing here. While the fans could see things slipping under Mowbray he was still popular and the new appointment has not been met with any enthusiasm at all.
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