domjg
Member
Posts: 5,106
|
Post by domjg on Jan 21, 2024 18:28:54 GMT
I've been heartened by the many hundreds of thousands who have come out onto (mainly West) German streets to protest unequivocally against the AfD after some linked to it, including an advisor to a senior AfD official were uncovered meeting at an East German hotel with known neo Nazis and even some businessmen to discuss actual logistics of expelling millions of foreigners and even German citizens they deem 'unintegrated' should the AfD ever gain total control in what to many has eerie echos of the Wannsee conference.
It's encouraging to see that when faced with real far right threat people will come out and resist. We may all be called upon to make our voices heard in the years to come.
Hopefully the constitutional court will ban the party, at least at state legislature levels.
|
|
|
Post by expatr on Jan 21, 2024 19:03:37 GMT
True as far as it goes but the BBC's (particularly the Today programme's) tendency to lead on whatever the Daily Mail (in particular) is spouting on any given day amplifies and mainstreams what would otherwise be a reasonably niche set of priorities. Has been like this for at least 20 years
|
|
|
Post by crossbat11 on Jan 21, 2024 19:39:20 GMT
I've been heartened by the many hundreds of thousands who have come out onto (mainly West) German streets to protest unequivocally against the AfD after some linked to it, including an advisor to a senior AfD official were uncovered meeting at an East German hotel with known neo Nazis and even some businessmen to discuss actual logistics of expelling millions of foreigners and even German citizens they deem 'unintegrated' should the AfD ever gain total control in what to many has eerie echos of the Wannsee conference. It's encouraging to see that when faced with real far right threat people will come out and resist. We may all be called upon to make our voices heard in the years to come. Hopefully the constitutional court will ban the party, at least at state legislature levels. What we need too is for mainstream centre-right politicians and political parties to disavow and denounce this dangerous extremism. Not pander to it as a desperate way of clinging on to political influence. Most European moderate and mainstream conservative parties are struggling electorally and some are getting tempted to cling on to far right populist lifeboats for survival. In some cases, smuggle themselves into government this way too. Or cling on to power. They're riding a fearsome tiger and foolishly facilitating the Far Right's route into power. In the long term, however, it will destroy them, I think. The problem they have, politically, is that since the financial crash, many of their political shibboleths and economic models have been shredded, so cultural wedge politics could be just about all they have left. Banking deregulation, austerity, withered public services, gross inequality, low growth, low taxes; the centre right locker is bare and credibility gone. Stop the boats and knowing what a bloke looks like is now what it's come to basically.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2024 19:40:09 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2024 19:46:27 GMT
I've been heartened by the many hundreds of thousands who have come out onto (mainly West) German streets to protest unequivocally against the AfD after some linked to it, including an advisor to a senior AfD official were uncovered meeting at an East German hotel with known neo Nazis and even some businessmen to discuss actual logistics of expelling millions of foreigners and even German citizens they deem 'unintegrated' should the AfD ever gain total control in what to many has eerie echos of the Wannsee conference. It's encouraging to see that when faced with real far right threat people will come out and resist. We may all be called upon to make our voices heard in the years to come. Hopefully the constitutional court will ban the party, at least at state legislature levels. its a helluva decision ! www.politico.eu/article/germany-far-right-afd-ban-election-vote/Why are they so strong in the old communist East ?
|
|
|
Post by Rafwan on Jan 21, 2024 19:48:54 GMT
Basic steel production in Britain has been dead in the water for a decade. There is no point in propping up zombies by giving subsidies to foreign companies. Electric arc production from scrap is likely to be sustainable, and stuff that it can't produce can be imported at a cost that doesn't penalise our manufacturers.It is exactly that type of thinking, repeated over and over, decision by decision since 1980, that has left hollowed out former industrial centres all over the UK and US that are willing to vote for fascism out of sheer desperation that no one is listening to them. Neo-liberalism is reaping what it has sown - not that the billionaire class care; they are quite happy to fund fascists so long as they don't threaten the privileges of the super rich. (I love it when you talk to us like that!)
|
|
Dave
Member
... I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high ..
Posts: 818
|
Post by Dave on Jan 21, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
Up with larks this morning. Early train to London Euston to catch this morning, via Birmingham New Street. Off to watch Leyton Orient v Bolton Wanderers this afternoon. Brisbane Road is one of the few London football grounds I've not yet visited. Accordingly, this will be new ground number 3 I've been to this season; Field Mill and Brunton Park the other two. The Den, Edgerley Park and St James Park are three more to chalk off before the season ends, I hope. Silly adventures from a football loving kid who has never quite grown up. Fond memories of the orient - I lived above Leytonstone Library in the early 80s and went along to the games. They also have a big link up with Hearts due to both teams having signed up en massse in the first world war. We (hearts) are playing them in a friendly this year to celebrate the connection as part of our 150th anniversary celebrations. www.heartsfc.co.uk/blogs/news/150-years-celebrations-24-25-pre-season-friendlyMy brother wrote a song about it which troubled the bottom of the charts (no20 in the BBC independent charts) - there's a poignant photographic version here, which makes me think about the Ukranian War now www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil_g6p_jPYBeen meaning to find time to watch that vid since I saw you post this yesterday. I just found that time and glad I did. Respect to your brother, Bardin. Powerful stuff, but then I always find that when it comes to the pals' batallions. West Ham's one numbered about 1,000. By the war's end, a quarter of them were dead, 50% were severely disabled, leaving only one in four uninjured, on the outside anyway. Anyway, having been brought up in a Catholic school Celtic have long since been my Scottish team and Hibees my Edinburgh one. Despite that, I've always had soft spot for the Jambos. The few of their fans I've met in life have always been sound. Some of us my present day West Ham pals are starting to think about visiting Edinburgh this autumn. If it happens, whoever is at home, Hearts or Hibees, we'll take in their game.
|
|
|
Post by crossbat11 on Jan 21, 2024 20:33:57 GMT
It is exactly that type of thinking, repeated over and over, decision by decision since 1980, that has left hollowed out former industrial centres all over the UK and US that are willing to vote for fascism out of sheer desperation that no one is listening to them. Neo-liberalism is reaping what it has sown - not that the billionaire class care; they are quite happy to fund fascists so long as they don't threaten the privileges of the super rich. (I love it when you talk to us like that!) Mr PJ must have three Shredded Wheat this morning! Plus a sneaky portion of Weetabix!
|
|
|
Post by crossbat11 on Jan 21, 2024 20:43:18 GMT
De Santis has dropped out of the Republican primaries and, therefore, the Presidential race. Only Haley can stop Trump now it would seem. I suspect New Hampshire is a must-win for her now if she's going to gain any sort of momentum in the race for the GOP nomination. Her sliver of a chance is winning that state and then looking like she has some gathering support. Then she might not appear to be a wasted vote and could start to get some Stop Trump Republican voters rallying to her flag. Of course, she is no moderate in the real meaning of that word, but she is less extreme than Trump. That might be enough to rally moderate Republicans desperate to ditch Trump. But it's a very, very long shot. I fear we will soon be looking to the Courts and then Biden for the nightmare to be averted. Well, when I say Biden, I mean the American voters, really. They chucked Trump out of office in 2020. Can they keep him out in 2024?? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/21/ron-desantis-drops-out-presidential-race
|
|
jib
Member
Posts: 2,864
Member is Online
|
Post by jib on Jan 21, 2024 20:47:12 GMT
It only seems like yesterday that we were listening to the ridiculous assertions of Guiliani and Trump outside the Four Seasons Garden Centre.
|
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 9,895
Member is Online
|
Post by Danny on Jan 21, 2024 21:11:49 GMT
For example, last year, in the UK, deaths directly attributable to covid were greater than deaths due to HIV/AIDS by a factor of around 20. The level of ongoing physical impairment caused by the two diseases is similarly unbalanced. We have a stringent HIV/AIDS strategy in place, and we have signed up to the globally agreed WHO target to eliminate all HIV/AIDS deaths by 2030. In contrast, for most of us in the UK, there is in effect absolutely no strategy whatsoever on Covid. Well duh, thats because there is an effective treatment for HIV, and its also quite a difficult disease to catch. Whereas there is no effective treatment for covid, and its very easy to catch. Whereas I'd point out that HIV has something like a 90%+ fatality rate let to itself regardless of age, whereas covid has 0.1% per wave and way less than that if you are say under 50, but the actual risk varied about x2 every 3-5 years older you get. I am reminded of safety standards in the nuclear industry. As techniques to contain and monitor radiation improved, then what was deemed a safe dose of radiation was pushed lower and lower. In other words, the standard was determined by what was practical, not what was truly safe. Since there is no cure for covid, no way to prevent its spread and its only a modest risk to older people, its pointless trying to do anything seriously to eradicate it The huge scandal is the vast sums spent on lockdowns which didnt work trying to suppress it. Thats resposnible for the 2000 who died last december because there isnt enough money to properly man A&E departments.
|
|
domjg
Member
Posts: 5,106
|
Post by domjg on Jan 21, 2024 21:23:01 GMT
I've been heartened by the many hundreds of thousands who have come out onto (mainly West) German streets to protest unequivocally against the AfD after some linked to it, including an advisor to a senior AfD official were uncovered meeting at an East German hotel with known neo Nazis and even some businessmen to discuss actual logistics of expelling millions of foreigners and even German citizens they deem 'unintegrated' should the AfD ever gain total control in what to many has eerie echos of the Wannsee conference. It's encouraging to see that when faced with real far right threat people will come out and resist. We may all be called upon to make our voices heard in the years to come. Hopefully the constitutional court will ban the party, at least at state legislature levels. What we need too is for mainstream centre-right politicians and political parties to disavow and denounce this dangerous extremism. Not pander to it as a desperate way of clinging on to political influence. Most European moderate and mainstream conservative parties are struggling electorally and some are getting tempted to cling on to far right populist lifeboats for survival. In some cases, smuggle themselves into government this way too. Or cling on to power. They're riding a fearsome tiger and foolishly facilitating the Far Right's route into power. In the long term, however, it will destroy them, I think. The problem they have, politically, is that since the financial crash, many of their political shibboleths and economic models have been shredded, so cultural wedge politics could be just about all they have left. Banking deregulation, austerity, withered public services, gross inequality, low growth, low taxes; the centre right locker is bare and credibility gone. Stop the boats and knowing what a bloke looks like is now what it's come too basically. The CDU has definitely moved to the right since Merkel's departure but as yet seemingly without any crass populism and obvious dog whistling that we would recognise from our own 'centre' right party. However it turns out there is a small, further right sub group of the party called the 'Werte Union' or 'Values Union. A member of this group was present at this meeting. To give Friedrich Merz his due he's now stated that no-one belonging to this group can be a member of the CDU as well, so they are in effect being expelled from the party. They are currently looking to set themselves up as a separate entity. A debate has been going on about working with the AfD (in the east) within the CDU for a while. It's been roundly rejected by Western CDU officials but there has been informal co-operation in some eastern state assemblies, in one case even involving the CDU supporting the AfD in voting down a motion put forward by the state SPD led government. The Eastern CDU are far more willing to see doing this as a lifeline for them despite the unequivocal condemnation of it by the national party. Recent events would make it harder for them to do that now you'd hope. There are three eastern state legislature elections this year and in all of them the AfD is predicted to come out on top of even form a majority state govt. Will be interesting to see how this revelation, that was only uncovered by subterfuge will effect that. Thirty plus years after unification the east remains in many ways a very different country. It's perhaps necessary to say that the AfD leadership have distanced themselves from this meeting saying it was just a private meeting of individuals but local eastern AfD officials have been telling a different story with one saying he doesn't distance himself from expelling minorities, in fact it's a promise..
|
|
domjg
Member
Posts: 5,106
|
Post by domjg on Jan 21, 2024 22:20:04 GMT
I've been heartened by the many hundreds of thousands who have come out onto (mainly West) German streets to protest unequivocally against the AfD after some linked to it, including an advisor to a senior AfD official were uncovered meeting at an East German hotel with known neo Nazis and even some businessmen to discuss actual logistics of expelling millions of foreigners and even German citizens they deem 'unintegrated' should the AfD ever gain total control in what to many has eerie echos of the Wannsee conference. It's encouraging to see that when faced with real far right threat people will come out and resist. We may all be called upon to make our voices heard in the years to come. Hopefully the constitutional court will ban the party, at least at state legislature levels. its a helluva decision ! www.politico.eu/article/germany-far-right-afd-ban-election-vote/Why are they so strong in the old communist East ? Apologies, this is a bit of a ramble. I've been discussing this topic with a (West) German friend this weekend. We agreed that the momentum of unification did not take into account the hugely different cultural backgrounds that Westerners and Easterners had lived under for over forty years. It would probably have been culturally (and certainly economically) far easier to unite West Germany with Finland than with East Germany at the time. It seemed to us that many Easterners came to feel after the initial euphoria that they were exchanging one overlord (the Soviet Union) for another in the Federal Republic despite the Western tax payer having showered billions on the East including exchanging east Marks for D marks at unification so effectively giving east Germans millions in free money. Unlike other eastern block states they never got 'independence' and a sense of driving their own destiny, or destiny restored as, say, the Poles felt. In hindsight it would have maybe done them great good to have remained an independent democratic state and work out what they wanted but the emotional juggernaut of unification, manipulated, I would say, by Helmut Kohl tolerated no doubts. In Eastern Germany now there seems to be a lingering, almost colonial subject type bitterness that poisons their relationship to the rest of Germany and to the federal govt not helped by lots of genuine condescension on the part of Westerners. They seem to have a sense that they never had their own agency or made their own decisions, which they didn't. I was also reading a German political commentator this weekend who said that anyone above 45-50 will have been socialised in a dictatorship and many have not been able to shake off that legacy. Another factor I think is that in Soviet times and in the 90s/2000s East Germans were used to great state largesse from someone, and while economically things have often been far from rosy there's always been some state overlord willing to shower cash on them beyond what they otherwise would have had. Though obviously not in any way free they were by far the wealthiest of the eastern block states and all basic material needs were taken care of. That's all over now and I think many of them perhaps became too used to it. I'd also say that by 1990 West Germany had gone through a quite traumatic and thorough facing up to it's Nazi past and the responsibility that came with it. Nothing like that had taken place in the east, in a similar way to Austria (who clung to the fiction of being the first occupied nation). East Germans were told by their leaders that they were a new nation, absolved of responsibility as wicked capitalist West Germany was the sole successor to (and in communist propaganda the continuance of) Nazi Germany. So they had never been asked to properly face up to that which obviously was bound to cause problems. My friend said to me 'We thought they wanted the same things as us but we didn't realise how different they were'. I think what they wanted and feel they never had was to make decisions for themselves but they also got caught up on the emotional whirl of unification and knew the West Germans would shower then with cash. My friend and I jokingly suggested putting the border back up and she said 'yes, we could call it Western Hungary'. There's really no love lost.. I shouldn't over generalise. There are plenty of liberal, highly successful places in the East (other than Berlin of course) such as the city of Leipzig and also it would be daft to pretend the AfD doesn't have a following in the West though at nowhere near the same level. However in the east there have also been, and for decades, some remote villages effectively controlled by neo Nazis that the state barely interacts with. It remains a very different place.
|
|
|
Post by alec on Jan 21, 2024 22:21:54 GMT
Danny - "Whereas I'd point out that HIV has something like a 90%+ fatality rate let to itself regardless of age, whereas covid has 0.1% per wave..." I'm perpetually amazed that you never seem to stop and think before posting something. You just don't ever seem to appreciate the implications of what you say. We've had Covid in the human population for barely 4 years. If you want to compare the fatality rate from Covid at 4 years to HIV at 4 years, then fine, go ahead. HIV would come out at roughly 0%. You're being remarkably stupid, comparing Covid at 4 years to HIV full life cycle. This is precisely what many experts are deeply concerned about; the fact that all our learning from HIV/AIDS and other viral diseases regarding long term impacts has been thrown out of the window with Covid, where - despite abundant evidence of long term persistent viral replication in multiple organ systems - everyone just thinks once you get over the 'mild' symptoms in the first couple of weeks you're in the clear. Just remember that most people infected with HIV know nothing about it for for the first few years other that experiencing a very mild flu like illness for a couple of weeks at the outset. And then they die, a decade or so later, if untreated. It's bizarre that you don't appear to know this, yet manage to pontificate about this and so many other topics you are clearly completely ignorant about.
Edit: I'd also say that you're being remarkably dim talking about treatments for HIV/AIDS. Well we've got treatments for Covid as well - vaccines and antivirals - yet still, the death toll is 20 times greater than HIV....
|
|
|
Post by alec on Jan 21, 2024 22:27:05 GMT
Re Germany - heartening indeed to see the turnout for the anti AfD demos, and the backwash from the leaked seminar discussing the mass deportation of German citizens based on their ethnic background does seem to have created ructions for the 'acceptable' faces of the unacceptable far right.
Remarkable that it came to this, given Germany's past, just as it's remarkable to witness the degradation of Israel's morality. It just goes to show the fight for decency and morality is never won. It's a constant war against humanities worst instincts, that no generation is ever spared from.
|
|
|
Post by guymonde on Jan 21, 2024 22:29:16 GMT
The history of where Fujitsu UK came from is not much mentioned. Yes, the predecessor ICL UK champion was in financial trouble in the early 1980s, perhaps because the 'buy British' culture for UK public sector IT was binned (probably because of Thatcher doctrine). I worked for Honeywell at the time, another company assembled by a large parent which bought the Olivetti computer business in Italy, Bull in France, Raytheon and General Electric in the states. It was an era when they talked of IBM and the BUNCH (Borroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data and Honeywell) all of whom essentially failed because of IBM hegemony. I remember a sales meeting in c1981 when we were exhorted to 'stamp on ICL in 1981' and they created doormats all over the conference centre to assist the stamping. ICL had been run by IT people - Robb Wilmot and Sir Peter Bonfield but someone decided it would be better run by oil man Christopher Laidlaw - per Wikipedia "He was Chairman of BP Oil International from January 1977, becoming Deputy Chairman of BP itself from 1980 to 1981. He was not chosen to become chairman, possibly due to his uncompromising manner" and Michael Edwardes, fresh from messing up (or saving, according to taste) British Leyland. ICL was sold to STC ( a Honeywell customer!), STC had their own problems and ended up being sold to Nortel under Lord Keith (Hill Samuel, Rolls Royce, Beecham). I think there is a lot of the British Illness of the 80s and 90s seen in these companies, and the underlying problem being around the government, bankers and their mates amongst the elite being parachuted into situations of which they had very little experience, passion or knowledge (some thing rather similar happened at Bull whilst it was nationalised - we got a new CEO because his wife was elected mayor of Paris and he needed a job in the capital) Having worked at Honeywell its computer business was sold to its former subsidiary, French nationalised Bull. They were chastised by Brussels for excessive subsidy, made a general mess of the business and sold most of it to another French IT company. I gained some understanding about how the French looked at these things, cf the Brits. Renault of course was also nationalised when I worked there. My final observation is that Renault, then viewed as similar to BLMC with poorly made, unreliable and rust prone products was heavily invested (I believe) by the government and has survived as a healthy car manufacturer, also owning Dacia and having until recently controlled Nissan. I believe the French government retain a stake of 15%. The French also have Peugeot, Citroen etc, though now all are a part of the genuinely multinational, Stellantis
|
|
pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,417
|
Post by pjw1961 on Jan 21, 2024 22:41:43 GMT
And, whereas I don't think you were directly excusing racism, I felt, maybe, that your argument might give a free pass to an element that exists in all our communities, affluent and poor, who need no excuse to parade nativism and racism. The right in politics want struggling people to blame immigrants for their problems, remember. Look over there, they say. Not here, with us, where the blame should really lie. It's the economics in the end, not the culture. Cultural distraction is the right's game. Except of course that immigration does affect economics, particularly in these left-behind areas, because it increases competition for the jobs that do exist and by extension helps to keep wages low. Immigrants being, by definition, energetic and driven people who want to get on, don't tend to end up in places like Ashfield. They gravitate naturally to the cities where the best work and prospects for advancement are. Population statistics confirm that point. So, no, immigrants are not competing for jobs in 'left behind areas' and keeping wages low. The persistent failures of governments to do anything serious about creating and sustaining new industries as well as protecting old ones from unfair competition has far more to do with that.
|
|
|
Post by mercian on Jan 21, 2024 23:06:01 GMT
domjg I was very interested in your posts about Germany. I wonder whether part of the problem of different parts not understanding each other is that it wasn't even unified until 1871 and that only lasted (first time round) for just over 70 years - less than a lifetime. Ignoring Ireland for the moment as it complicates things, mainland UK has been unified for over 400 years and yet there are still strong nationalist movements in Wales and of course particularly Scotland. You know a lot more about Germany than I do (or probably anyone else on here) so I'm interested in your opinion.
|
|
|
Post by steamdrivenandy on Jan 21, 2024 23:13:17 GMT
Except of course that immigration does affect economics, particularly in these left-behind areas, because it increases competition for the jobs that do exist and by extension helps to keep wages low. Immigrants being, by definition, energetic and driven people who want to get on, don't tend to end up in places like Ashfield. They gravitate naturally to the cities where the best work and prospects for advancement are. Population statistics confirm that point. So, no, immigrants are not competing for jobs in 'left behind areas' and keeping wages low. The persistent failures of governments to do anything serious about creating and sustaining new industries as well as protecting old ones from unfair competition has far more to do with that. You're very likely right about fairly recent immigrants but a lot of those that arrived in the latter half of the 20th century moved to major industrial centres , for the very reasons you outline, Since industry left the building they have become part of the left behinds. As some have been here for 50 years or so and have one or two generations of descendants they're not exactly new arrivals competing for jobs but are often depicted that way by the right.
|
|
|
Post by mercian on Jan 21, 2024 23:58:44 GMT
|
|
|
Post by eor on Jan 22, 2024 1:19:06 GMT
domjg I was very interested in your posts about Germany. I wonder whether part of the problem of different parts not understanding each other is that it wasn't even unified until 1871 and that only lasted (first time round) for just over 70 years - less than a lifetime. Ignoring Ireland for the moment as it complicates things, mainland UK has been unified for over 400 years and yet there are still strong nationalist movements in Wales and of course particularly Scotland. You know a lot more about Germany than I do (or probably anyone else on here) so I'm interested in your opinion. domjg I'd second all that, thank you! I was particularly interested in what you said about the feeling of swapping Soviet overlords for West German ones, do you think a similar feeling would extend further back in various places in the east, that they were pretty much suborned into a unified Germany in the first place and then subjected to Prussian dominance? Cos 150 years (maybe nearer 200 years with the various trading precursors) seems like it could build up a tremendous amount of generational resentment at always being ruled by and for Others.
|
|
|
Post by robbiealive on Jan 22, 2024 1:31:00 GMT
THE WRONG KIND OF PROTEST: TERROIST ATTACK THWARTED IN TRURO
As I reported the other day, by November last year 1,000 ULEZ cameras have been damaged or stolen in London: crimes encouraged by Tory MPs & the gutter press. bill: £10 mILL. Meanwhile down in Truro: the local MP Cherilyn Mackrory has been exasperating constituemts by ignoring their emails re Gaza. One elderly constituent placed a placard on the MP's Constituency Office door protesting about Gaza.
Four burly policeman invaded her house at dawn & charged her with criminal damage -- caused by the drawing pins used to to affix the placard! I can understand that the police have to protect MPs: but as the CCTV evidence showed an older woman placing the placard & no threat was made, this seems absurd & I'm surprised it has not been picked up by the national press.
Next time she should use bluetack!
The video shows the raid:
|
|
|
Post by robbiealive on Jan 22, 2024 1:51:53 GMT
Truro and Falmouth: Overview PREDICTION: LAB GAIN FROM CON
MP at 2019: Cherilyn Mackrory (CON) County/Area: Cornwall (South West) Electorate: 76,719 Turnout: 77.2%
2019 Pred Votes 2024 CON 27,237 46.0% 26.7% LAB 22,676 38.3% 41.7% LIB 7,150 12.1% 14.5% Green 1,714 2.9% 6.8% OTH 413 0.7% 1.2% Reform 0 0.0% 9.2% CON Majority 4,561 7.7%
Pred Maj 15.0%
|
|
steve
Member
Posts: 12,320
|
Post by steve on Jan 22, 2024 5:55:00 GMT
There are a whole set of border restrictions that are going to have huge adverse impacts on the public and business due to commence this year as part of the on going self inflicted disaster of brexit. Raising the profile of the damage caused by national idiots day just in time for a general election. If the Tories persist with the absurdity that one of their " achievements " was getting Brexit done this should defenestrate a few more of them and make a Canada 93 election more of a probability. www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/22/brexit-checks-existential-threat-uk-fruit-flower-growers
|
|
steve
Member
Posts: 12,320
|
Post by steve on Jan 22, 2024 6:10:36 GMT
robbiealive While the whole process seems unnecessary and over the top, the police officers concerned were incredibly respectful and professional and describing it as "an invasion at dawn" seems a bit bizarre. The primary reason why searches often occur early morning is because you want the people to be there to let you in and answer questions. It was one of the politest detentions and house searches I've ever seen. The officers were only there because someone presumably The Tory mp or their office made an allegation of criminal damage. Devon and Cornwall police clearly have too much time on their hands they could have just asked the woman to pop into the station and make the allegation there, didn't look like she was a flight risk! The lady concerned was dearrested at 8.55 am. Hope the nonsense of the charge is abandoned before it's laughed out at court.
|
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 9,895
Member is Online
|
Post by Danny on Jan 22, 2024 6:54:24 GMT
interesting map. One thing it does show is london percentage of deprived households is higher than the home counties. Sure, there are some very rich bits, but the average is exactly consistent with deprived regions voting lab and not deprived voting con. Despite London supposedly making so much money for the uk, its people are not the least deprived. So the stereotype of rich middle class londoners defying the dictates of their wealth to vote lab isnt really true. Although we might have to think about whether someone financially much richer living inside london still counts as more deprived because of higher cost of living. Which in turn might explain deprived londoners retiring to places further afield where they can buy into non deprived tory areas but keep voting lab and erode the tory base. Did Thatcher build a machine for destroying conservative regions in the longer term?
|
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 9,895
Member is Online
|
Post by Danny on Jan 22, 2024 7:17:42 GMT
Danny - "Whereas I'd point out that HIV has something like a 90%+ fatality rate let to itself regardless of age, whereas covid has 0.1% per wave..." I'm perpetually amazed that you never seem to stop and think before posting something. You just don't ever seem to appreciate the implications of what you say. We've had Covid in the human population for barely 4 years. If you want to compare the fatality rate from Covid at 4 years to HIV at 4 years, then fine, go ahead. HIV would come out at roughly 0%. You're being remarkably stupid, comparing Covid at 4 years to HIV full life cycle. once again I'd remind you of the rules of this website under which those persistently making personal insults will be banned. But turning to comparative disease, its true hiv takes much longer to kill you, but over the cycle of an infection its very likely to kill you, whereas covid is very likely NOT to kill you. It makes no sense to compare them at an arbitrary time point, long compared to the cycle of one but short comoared to the other. If covid had been as deadly as hiv coupled with its ease of spread, we would now be living in a ghost world with a uk population under ten million (maybe much under) and a massive housing surplus. Such outcomes could have justified lockdowns to try to save a few million more, but what we did is truly laughable in comparison. Utterly pointless. As to real covid, while there has been lots of research into long term side effects, on a scale never before done in human history, there is frankly no evidence it will be much different in the long term to many past epidemics. All the evidence seems the exact opposite, such that just as the acute covid epidemic was grossly over estimated, so long term effects are being over estimated. This is about the dangers of acting on the worst case prediction, once again. Happily most people simply accept covid is just another respiratory illness much the same as the others. Its effects have been so minor they are unlikely to have impacted world genetics in any measurable way, we totally handled this with our existing immune defences. By contrast, hiv has in some countries killed enough people it IS likely to have caused a genetic change in the population.
|
|
|
Post by alec on Jan 22, 2024 7:36:13 GMT
Danny - "once again I'd remind you of the rules of this website under which those persistently making personal insults will be banned." Thankyou for that reminder. You continually post the most remarkably stupid, ill thought out, poorly informed posts. These are statements of fact, not insults. If you don't want to be termed as stupid, then stop doing stupid things.
|
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 9,895
Member is Online
|
Post by Danny on Jan 22, 2024 7:51:50 GMT
Lucy fraser, culture secretary just interviewed on r4 about the future of the bbc and its funding model.
Interviewer had a long list of ministers saying this needed sorting but yet tbis has not happened. The current minister argued that as the current charter runs to 2027 she is powerless to do anything.
Which struck me as the ultimate in buck passing. This isnt a privatised industry like water where there are shareholders who might have a stake however badly they have managed the business. Just like the post office it is wholly owned by the government and should be run in the national interest. If it isnt, government has a duty to fix it now.
But once again the solution to funding the bbc has been to freeze funding and leave the resulting mess for the next government to solve. One more to add to the list of unpaid bills con is leaving for lab.
|
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 9,895
Member is Online
|
Post by Danny on Jan 22, 2024 8:00:22 GMT
Hope the nonsense of the charge is abandoned before it's laughed out at court. is it nonsense? It sounds as if she is guiltu, so why would it be laughed out of court? Granted it was a mistake to give her publicity for her cause, but the bottom line is that such draconian powers exist in law and become stricter decade by decade. Anyone think labour is going to repeal the tightening done by con?
|
|