Danny
Member
Posts: 9,907
|
Post by Danny on Jan 27, 2024 9:21:57 GMT
I hope that the CPS are already looking at how much more evidence they need to prosecute the Directors and senior management of the Post Office for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68079300Paula Vennells can always become a voluntary Prison Chaplain. Cyber £10 bet nobody from senior PO positions ever goes to prison? At this moment we KNOW thousands of people were criminally persecuted or forced to pay money they never owed. And yet government is still refusing to immediately compensate them properly. Its not just those in the past guilty of this who should be punished. The current government is still doing the same thing. Realisation of this is likely contributing to their falling vote share. But i doubt they care any more, its now about protecting their allies in tbe short term and leaving the mess for labour to deal with. The worse things are in the next 5 years the better for con.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2024 9:30:25 GMT
Does every sodding thing have to be about politics.? Can't you let Liverpool FC lovers mourn his leaving and remember the wonderful energetic committed brand of football he gave us ,without giving a fuck about his bloody politics. ? He is a football manager ffs
|
|
pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,419
|
Post by pjw1961 on Jan 27, 2024 9:55:32 GMT
Dave I was thinking more along the lines of "No one likes us but we don't care" as a suitable terrace chant to describe the Tories current plight. Unfortunately for them, I can't see Sunak getting sacked in the morning though! In terms of the polls and your theory as to how they might get even worse for the Tories, there is, of course, as there always is, a counter narrative. It is often claimed that the British electorate baulk at the idea of granting parties landslide victories and that this may lead to some late rallying to the Tory cause. Not enough to save them from defeat but maybe enough to drag them into the low 30s. In other words, somewhat counter-intuituvely too I admit, maybe the worse the polls get for the Tories the bigger the eleventh hour rally to come. The DKs come home to mothership late in the day That said, I don't entirely discount your theory of an utter meltdown. The polls are deteriorating alarmingly for them. "It is often claimed that the British electorate baulk at the idea of granting parties landslide victories" You are correct that this claim is made (Tony Blair was one who said it in the 1990s) but it is one of those statements that isn't really supported by the evidence. If you treat a landslide as a 75+ majority and a comfortable majority as 20+ and take the period since mass enfranchisement in 1928 then you get: Landslides: 1931, 1935, 1945, 1959, 1966, 1983, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2019 = 10 (42% of total) Comfortable: 1955, 1970, 1979, 1992, 2005, 2015 = 6 Close: 1929, 1950, 1951, 1964, Feb 1974, Oct 1974, 2010, 2017 = 8
|
|
|
Post by thylacine on Jan 27, 2024 9:55:52 GMT
Does every sodding thing have to be about politics. Can't you let Liverpool FC lovers mourn his leaving and remember the wonderful energetic committed brand of football he gave us ,without giving a fuck about his bloody politics. He was a football manager ffs In pete defence he probably thought this was a politically inclined forum.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2024 10:07:17 GMT
Cohen was truly a genius, and I think a lovely human. I would concur with the first opinion. The combination of that voice and his poetic lyrics . But I guess we would need to defer to his friends & "partners" on your second. I doubt the women among them would would necessarily agree. Including Marianne Ihlen. Dont know if you have seen this film :- www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/marianne-leonard-words-of-love-a-beautiful-way-to-say-goodbye-1.3958457It opened my eyes , and reminded me of the darker side of that 60s "culture" . There was no greater practitioner of it than Leonard Cohen.
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jan 27, 2024 10:34:07 GMT
Front page of FT reporting that HS2 considering scrapping first-class seats to maintain passenger capacity: www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-68114165One wonders whether if the Government had decided to scrap first-class seats on all mainline trains back when HS2 was first proposed they would not have needed HS2 in the first place, but then the argument was it was needed for time-saving not increased capacity. Incidentally, I attended an interesting day-long event at the Institute of Physics (I am a member) on tunnelling this week and learned a good deal; I hadn't realised before then that the Elizabeth Line trains were designed without toilets, so if one gets caught short there is no alternative to getting off at the next station, using the station toilets, and catching a later train (except there are no toilets on the stations in the underground section through London). It was also fascinating to hear from the French tunnellers how they are building a ring Metro line around Paris connecting all the suburbs without needing to go into the centre and out again. Meanwhile, in London all we have is Mayor Khan rebranding various orbital bus services as the Superloop (but you need to catch about 8 buses rather than one train to go all the way around.
|
|
Dave
Member
... I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high ..
Posts: 818
|
Post by Dave on Jan 27, 2024 10:37:11 GMT
Batty, Domjg.
Fair points and no disagreement from me. What I said wasn’t a prediction, just a pondering about what one possible consequence of, what lately has sometimes looked like Truss-like polling could be for them.
Saying that, I do believe (rather than just hope 🙂) is that there is a reasonable chance that 2024/25 (I wouldn’t rule out a late-as-possible election if things don’t pick up markedly for them) could turn out to be an existential time for them. And in their current guise, I would have no problem with that.
|
|
|
Post by shevii on Jan 27, 2024 10:40:24 GMT
|
|
|
Post by steamdrivenandy on Jan 27, 2024 11:03:03 GMT
Front page of FT reporting that HS2 considering scrapping first-class seats to maintain passenger capacity: www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-68114165One wonders whether if the Government had decided to scrap first-class seats on all mainline trains back when HS2 was first proposed they would not have needed HS2 in the first place, but then the argument was it was needed for time-saving not increased capacity. Incidentally, I attended an interesting day-long event at the Institute of Physics (I am a member) on tunnelling this week and learned a good deal; I hadn't realised before then that the Elizabeth Line trains were designed without toilets, so if one gets caught short there is no alternative to getting off at the next station, using the station toilets, and catching a later train (except there are no toilets on the stations in the underground section through London). It was also fascinating to hear from the French tunnellers how they are building a ring Metro line around Paris connecting all the suburbs without needing to go into the centre and out again. Meanwhile, in London all we have is Mayor Khan rebranding various orbital bus services as the Superloop (but you need to catch about 8 buses rather than one train to go all the way around. There are no toilets on any London underground trains.
|
|
|
Post by steamdrivenandy on Jan 27, 2024 11:11:05 GMT
Front page of FT reporting that HS2 considering scrapping first-class seats to maintain passenger capacity: www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-68114165One wonders whether if the Government had decided to scrap first-class seats on all mainline trains back when HS2 was first proposed they would not have needed HS2 in the first place, but then the argument was it was needed for time-saving not increased capacity. Incidentally, I attended an interesting day-long event at the Institute of Physics (I am a member) on tunnelling this week and learned a good deal; I hadn't realised before then that the Elizabeth Line trains were designed without toilets, so if one gets caught short there is no alternative to getting off at the next station, using the station toilets, and catching a later train (except there are no toilets on the stations in the underground section through London). It was also fascinating to hear from the French tunnellers how they are building a ring Metro line around Paris connecting all the suburbs without needing to go into the centre and out again. Meanwhile, in London all we have is Mayor Khan rebranding various orbital bus services as the Superloop (but you need to catch about 8 buses rather than one train to go all the way around. HS2 has become a sort of parable for the country under the Tories, gradually be whittled back bit by bit. Getting rid of first class would mean around 15 extra seats per carriage but the revenue loss would be substantial.
|
|
|
Post by robbiealive on Jan 27, 2024 11:41:08 GMT
----------------------------------------------- And thank you for your usual patronising nonsense. You miscast yourself in your Dad's Army list. Pomposity was a Captain Mainwaring characteristic. Capt Mainwaring is always characterised as pompous & Pooterish. In fact he was a v brave soul, always the first to be put himself in danger. You should be more respectful of decent, courageous men like Mainwaring. A true British patriot of the old school. And what about an honourable mention for Private Godfrey? He was a conscientious objector in WW1, who was nevertheless awarded the Military Medal for his work as a stretcher bearer in the Battle of the Somme. In real life, the actor Arnold Ridley, who portrayed him, was himself severely wounded on the Somme. Now, that's a real bloody hero for you. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Godfrey[/quote]Robbie replies. Yes it's ironic that Godfrey had a distinguished service record in both world wars & the scene where having criticised him for cowardice the gang discover that he won the M Medal is touching: of course Fraser, who has been the most venemous, declares he knew all along that he was a good 'un. I always liked sitcoms & mourn their relative passing as they involve both story-telling & character. Tho I didnt like Perry & Croft's other huge hit: It Ain't Half Hot, which the BBC stopped repeating much to the writers' disgust. To some degree sit-coms were replaced by sketch shows with their repetitive catch phrases & stand up with its cosy observational humour mixed with its bogus claims to be anti-establishment/authority.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2024 11:43:36 GMT
I get weekly blogs from Ian Leslie and the following is a brief excerpt from his analysis of Trump’s continuing appeal to voters. It’s relevant to Europe as well.
“ It’s worth discussing immigration specifically. In the US and UK, I often see it classified as a ‘culture war’ issue, along with the implication that it’s somehow undignified to take it seriously. That’s crazy. First, because culture does matter, at least for any nation that regards itself as more than a legal jurisdiction. Second, immigration has material impacts, some of them negative, and saying so shouldn’t be a partisan or ideological move. Third: most voters, wherever they are, regard control or oversight of who is coming in and out the country as one of the most important functions of government.
An increase in global migration from poorer countries to richer ones is one of the central geopolitical facts of the age. Neither left or right can shut their eyes and wish it away. Even liberals who view mass immigration as desirable ought to be able to acknowledge its costs and the need for limits and controls. But they find it painfully hard to do so, at least to do so authentically. In the US, this blind spot has allowed the right to take the centre ground.”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2024 11:47:10 GMT
Robbie
Yes Prime Minister was one of the best comedies/satires ever on TV. We still see it occasionally and it still feels relevant. Not a word is out of place and the actors (mainly men but the relatively few women are always cleverer somehow) are absolutely superb.
|
|
|
Post by Mark on Jan 27, 2024 11:47:54 GMT
The thought occurs...
While most pollsters offer a current snapshot of polling, in other words, what they say would happen if there were an election tomorrow, Opinium offers up a prediction of what they think would happen in an eventual general election, in other words, taking things such as likely swingback into consideration.
Hence, an unpopula incumbent such as the current government do relatively better in the Opinium polling.
With a general election now less than a year away even if they leave it to the *very* last date they can...and with, IMO an October election likely, just over 8 months away, surely, as we get closer to the actual result, Opimium results should start to converge with those of "current snapshot" pollsters.
I wonder if/when we will start to see this happening.
|
|
|
Post by graham on Jan 27, 2024 11:51:44 GMT
Dave I was thinking more along the lines of "No one likes us but we don't care" as a suitable terrace chant to describe the Tories current plight. Unfortunately for them, I can't see Sunak getting sacked in the morning though! In terms of the polls and your theory as to how they might get even worse for the Tories, there is, of course, as there always is, a counter narrative. It is often claimed that the British electorate baulk at the idea of granting parties landslide victories and that this may lead to some late rallying to the Tory cause. Not enough to save them from defeat but maybe enough to drag them into the low 30s. In other words, somewhat counter-intuituvely too I admit, maybe the worse the polls get for the Tories the bigger the eleventh hour rally to come. The DKs come home to mothership late in the day That said, I don't entirely discount your theory of an utter meltdown. The polls are deteriorating alarmingly for them. There is a fair bit of historical evidence to support your point that predicted megalandslides fail to quite materialise. The elections of 1966 - 1983 - 1997 -and 2001 provide good examples.
|
|
|
Post by guymonde on Jan 27, 2024 11:58:19 GMT
Cohen was truly a genius, and I think a lovely human. I would concur with the first opinion. The combination of that voice and his poetic lyrics . But I guess we would need to defer to his friends & "partners" on your second. I doubt the women among them would would necessarily agree. Including Marianne Ihlen. Dont know if you have seen this film :- www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/marianne-leonard-words-of-love-a-beautiful-way-to-say-goodbye-1.3958457It opened my eyes , and reminded me of the darker side of that 60s "culture" . There was no greater practitioner of it than Leonard Cohen. wasn't aware of that film and will now need to find it! Yes, I've read a long biography and he lived the life I would have liked at the time, but lacked the courage and talent. Of course I am a bit younger and lacked his charisma and sex appeal as well! Clearly far from perfect, but he had redeeming grace and humility.
|
|
|
Post by mark61 on Jan 27, 2024 12:05:51 GMT
@ Robbie, The Golden age of Sitcoms seems to have been the 70's and 80's I wonder if the appeal to some extent is that they evoke memories of watching them with family members who are no longer with us or now live far away. growing up, it was always something we did as a family. I still enjoy the re-runs of Dads Army, Yes Minister, The Good Life, the ensemble playing is excellent with Paul Eddington a stand out. Some of the broader ones have perhaps not stood the test of time, but even those can raise a smile, it's the attempt to make you laugh that makes me laugh if that makes any sense!
One from the early 2000's Early Doors is a masterpiece In my opinion written in part by Craig Cash dopey Dave from The Royale Family.
|
|
|
Post by robbiealive on Jan 27, 2024 12:22:15 GMT
WILL THE COTTAGERS PROPOSITION THE TRACTOR BOYS?
It's Saturday: time for bit of de-coding with the enigma machine.
Will the Hammers smash the Blades or the Potters? Will the Cobblers nail the Hatters or the Sadlers Will the Canaries eat all the Cherries & Toffees? etc
Will the Os & the Us & the Reds & the Blues
ever get a proper nickname to celebrate the defunct industry their supporters used to work in.
|
|
|
Post by hireton on Jan 27, 2024 12:27:17 GMT
More sound and fury from within the Tory Party:
|
|
|
Post by barbara on Jan 27, 2024 12:29:59 GMT
I would concur with the first opinion. The combination of that voice and his poetic lyrics . But I guess we would need to defer to his friends & "partners" on your second. I doubt the women among them would would necessarily agree. Including Marianne Ihlen. Dont know if you have seen this film :- www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/marianne-leonard-words-of-love-a-beautiful-way-to-say-goodbye-1.3958457It opened my eyes , and reminded me of the darker side of that 60s "culture" . There was no greater practitioner of it than Leonard Cohen. wasn't aware of that film and will now need to find it! Yes, I've read a long biography and he lived the life I would have liked at the time, but lacked the courage and talent. Of course I am a bit younger and lacked his charisma and sex appeal as well! Clearly far from perfect, but he had redeeming grace and humility. I'm a long term Leonard Cohen fan. I first saw him at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1974 though I'dbeen listening to him since my older sister bought 'Songs of Leonard Cohen in about '67 or '68. Subllime and moving lyrics (poetry really)and that gravelly voice. The perfect combination. Speaking as a woman I found him incredibly attractive and sexy. But also as a woman I found him scary. He gave the impression that having wooed you assiduously into bed, your attraction would wane for him and he would discard you and move onto other conquests. Also his lack of self restraint in terms of drink and drugs general lifestyle made me think he would be unpredictable and that's scary too. And finally the feeling that women were a pleasurable distraction for him - his real life was his writing and music and art.
|
|
neilj
Member
Posts: 6,085
|
Post by neilj on Jan 27, 2024 12:34:55 GMT
We shouldn't get too nostalgic though, there were many truly poor sitcoms in the 1960's and 1970's
But besides the ones already mentioned these are my favourites of all timr
Blackadder Only Fools and Horses The IT Crowd One Foot in the Grave Father Ted Absolutely Fabulous The Royle Family Steptoe and Son
|
|
domjg
Member
Posts: 5,106
|
Post by domjg on Jan 27, 2024 12:39:25 GMT
More sound and fury from within the Tory Party: They really are deluded lunatics. They seem to think that will magically bring back the voters saying they'll vote reform and once again make the mistake of thinking the moderate tory base will just accept that and won't desert them. Sunak brought back Cameron for a reason. In a sense I would welcome it as when they go down to their worst defeat in history with Braverman as leader it will finally discredit the far right in the party but they'll probably just come up with some other reality estranged excuse.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2024 12:39:45 GMT
We shouldn't get too nostalgic though, there were many truly poor sitcoms in the 1960's and 1970's But besides the ones already mentioned these are my favourites of all timr Blackadder Only Foots and Horses The IT Crowd One Foot in the Grave Father Ted Absolutely Fabulous The Royle Family Steptoe and Son I must have missed the Foots and Horses one. What was it about?
|
|
pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,419
|
Post by pjw1961 on Jan 27, 2024 12:41:10 GMT
Dave I was thinking more along the lines of "No one likes us but we don't care" as a suitable terrace chant to describe the Tories current plight. Unfortunately for them, I can't see Sunak getting sacked in the morning though! In terms of the polls and your theory as to how they might get even worse for the Tories, there is, of course, as there always is, a counter narrative. It is often claimed that the British electorate baulk at the idea of granting parties landslide victories and that this may lead to some late rallying to the Tory cause. Not enough to save them from defeat but maybe enough to drag them into the low 30s. In other words, somewhat counter-intuituvely too I admit, maybe the worse the polls get for the Tories the bigger the eleventh hour rally to come. The DKs come home to mothership late in the day That said, I don't entirely discount your theory of an utter meltdown. The polls are deteriorating alarmingly for them. There is a fair bit of historical evidence to support your point that predicted megalandslides fail to quite materialise. The elections of 1966 - 1983 - 1997 -and 2001 provide good examples. The last three of those were mega-landslides by any reasonable standard.
|
|
pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,419
|
Post by pjw1961 on Jan 27, 2024 12:45:05 GMT
The thought occurs... While most pollsters offer a current snapshot of polling, in other words, what they say would happen if there were an election tomorrow, Opinium offers up a prediction of what they think would happen in an eventual general election, in other words, taking things such as likely swingback into consideration. Hence, an unpopula incumbent such as the current government do relatively better in the Opinium polling. With a general election now less than a year away even if they leave it to the *very* last date they can...and with, IMO an October election likely, just over 8 months away, surely, as we get closer to the actual result, Opimium results should start to converge with those of "current snapshot" pollsters. I wonder if/when we will start to see this happening. You would be right, that should happen, but with one important caveat. It assumes Opinium are correct to expect the 'don't knows' to return to their prior allegiance. History is on their side there, but were it not to happen this time, as some think possible, then Opinium could simply turn out to be wrong. There is no sign of any swing-back yet, which had already kicked in by now pre-1997.
|
|
neilj
Member
Posts: 6,085
|
Post by neilj on Jan 27, 2024 12:45:25 GMT
We shouldn't get too nostalgic though, there were many truly poor sitcoms in the 1960's and 1970's But besides the ones already mentioned these are my favourites of all timr Blackadder Only Foots and Horses The IT Crowd One Foot in the Grave Father Ted Absolutely Fabulous The Royle Family Steptoe and Son I must have missed the Foots and Horses one. What was it about? 😀
|
|
pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,419
|
Post by pjw1961 on Jan 27, 2024 12:52:29 GMT
More sound and fury from within the Tory Party: They really are deluded lunatics. They seem to think that will magically bring back the voters saying they'll vote reform and once again make the mistake of thinking the moderate tory base will just accept that and won't desert them. Sunak brought back Cameron for a reason. In a sense I would welcome it as when they go down to their worst defeat in history with Braverman as leader it will finally discredit the far right in the party but they'll probably just come up with some other reality estranged excuse. It reminds me that John Major not long after his 1997 defeat said that while he remained a committed conservative he had come to hate the Conservative (parliamentary) Party. I imagine Sunak might be starting to feel the same. If pushed too far by the loons he could call their bluff by going to the Palace and asking for a dissolution.
|
|
domjg
Member
Posts: 5,106
|
Post by domjg on Jan 27, 2024 13:05:09 GMT
Robbie Yes Prime Minister was one of the best comedies/satires ever on TV. We still see it occasionally and it still feels relevant. Not a word is out of place and the actors (mainly men but the relatively few women are always cleverer somehow) are absolutely superb. Always interested in politics I read and loved the books as a kid as well as watching the show. Still got them somewhere.
|
|
|
Post by graham on Jan 27, 2024 13:07:10 GMT
We shouldn't get too nostalgic though, there were many truly poor sitcoms in the 1960's and 1970's But besides the ones already mentioned these are my favourites of all timr Blackadder Only Fools and Horses The IT Crowd One Foot in the Grave Father Ted Absolutely Fabulous The Royle Family Steptoe and Son My favourites were 'Dads Army' and 'The Good Life.'
|
|
|
Post by bardin1 on Jan 27, 2024 13:09:04 GMT
I must have missed the Foots and Horses one. What was it about? It was a black comedy originally entitled 'Only Foots and his Donkey' about an intelligent but shambling son of a solicitor who dons a donkey jacket and tries to make it to PM . it inspired It is thought to have been the inspiration for other sit coms such as Worzel Gummidge and Citizen Smith Personally my list of favourite sitcoms would be The Likely Lads/ Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads Reggie Perrin (first series and a half where the original David Nobbs book was followed more closely) Porridge Red Dwarf Yes Minister/ Prime Minister The Good Life (I lived in Avenue south, Surbiton for awhile, with a 140 foot back garden which the previous owner had made into an organic vegetable patch) Only Fools and Horses Blackadder The Office Rising Damp I had a soft spot for Dear John, having been responsible for adult education for part of my career.
|
|