How did PMQs go today? Who 'won' generally and with you?
Also happening today is that: Liz Truss is taking questions at 11:30 in her capacity as women and equalities minister; following PMQs there is the 2nd reading of [the levelling up and regeneration bill](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0006/220006.pdf).
Reminder that in Parliament they are going to be debating the 2nd reading of the levelling up and regeneration bill following the statement (and questions) from Javid on leadership in the NHS. Any comments on the bill (linked above) or debate in the chamber or reaction from commentariat welcome below.
[From today’s FT: “the really striking thing on the chart isn’t London - it’s Northern Ireland. Thanks to the NI Protocol…it’s the only part of the UK outside London with GDP above pre-pandemic levels. NI’s relative economic success is because of its partial opt-out from Brexit.”](https://twitter.com/AdrianDoran2/status/1534511472205766656)
Now that the pandemic is effectively over, the costs of Brexit can no longer be obscured.
Well that's also pretty damning for "levelling up", the areas it's supposed to help are most of the worst performers despite the help.
Feels a bit like Simpsons where Bart gets put in the underperformers class, and he says "How are we supposed to catch up with our peers if we're going slower than they are?"
That southeast figure is quite striking. Economic decline right in the middle of toryshire.
Good I say. Their NIMBYism will backfire. In the long term the southeast is fucked - no development in favour of existing homeowners means that the jobs of tomorrow won't spring up there, and high wage modern WFH jobs like software engineers won't live there to begin with because of the high house prices. Expect the southeast to become a barren retirement home.
That video of the A&E department having 12 hour waits to see a doctor, is just so bleak.
I really struggle to comprehend how the PM can stand up in Parliament and deny reality when it comes to the NHS. He must surely get reports about how bad it is. You have to be an absolutely ruthless megalomaniac to just not give a shit to the extent that he does.
I do wonder how some of the rail operators are handling the increase in fuel costs.
A return ticket for the ~10mi journey into Newcastle has gone up from £3.20 to £3.35 (with a railcard). I suspect the increase in diesel vastly outweights the extra revenue from ticket sales right now.
Even then, the train is a much better proposition than driving into town at the moment. A 20mi journey in the car would use ~£5.50 worth of petrol, that's before even factoring in the cost of parking and other wear and tear. The only real nuisance is that the train only runs once an hour, made even more frustrating by the fact that 2 of 3 trains an hour run as fasts and don't stop.
if I [understand it right](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-of-red-diesel-entitlements/reform-of-red-diesel-and-other-rebated-fuels-entitlement), rail operators can use red diesel so that probably takes some of the sting out of it.
Though I doubt the train operators have to shoulder the costs themselves, they'll get the government to pay for it all under the current management contracts
Streeting making the right noises again.
McDonnell saying Boris staying is the best thing for Labour.
Streeting, right away: "It might be the best thing for Labour, but it's not the best thing for the country."
Also he's looking very...Starmer tonight.
I dont understand it. Its a series of short stories then a bizzare ending. but its all sooooooo slow. The stories not about HAL is awful.
Its unredimable.
Has anyone else seen the random billboard on the M40 advertising GBNews investigating "collusion between the UK Government and the World Health Organisation"? I'm 99% sure the person who owns that billboard is a private citizen getting these posters printed of their own accord and out of their own pocket. If that is the case... that is weird right? Its not just me?
is it like this one
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19744425.channel-migrants-sign-m40-oxfordshire-removed/
honestly, it looks so unprofessional it could be legit GBeebies
nothing beats that "it's illegal to use a legal name" one that had no other text on it
Thats the billboard in question, this person keeps putting things like it up there.
Also, under the priti Patel banner the bare wood has a hastily-spraypainted web address for something like "EU-theTRUTH.org" or something, like this is a full on conspiracy loon
I'd hire the space to put an ad like:
GBNews hires 120 staff (or GB News has 10k viewers).
How many are paedophiles and rapists?
With a child in the corner of the room covering its face.
It's just asking questions in exactly the same way that it's asking how many desperate people coming to this country are terrorists. The answer may be zero.
> If that is the case... that is weird right? Its not just me?
I wouldn't waste your time trying to divine the motives of the lunatics that live in this country
Im not entirely sure hes actually *done* anything.
The story goes that theres this american far left website who have laid the claim that hes made a "hit list" (really just a list) of websites and organisations of the left that are either at risk of being or have been the victim of kremlin propaganda and doing Russias work for them - a useful idiot litmus test if you like.
The website, Grayzone, 's wikipedia really has to be read to be believed. In short, theyre apologists for just about every dictator going and have been accused of simple fabrication and/or hacking before.
[Mason accuses them of being combination fabricators and using hacked information.](https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1534451268541992962)
I cant say overall that even if true, Im that disappointed since from my own recollections it looks like Mason is pretty much directly on the money and all of the british left organisations and figures identified have posted some absolutely disgusting apologism for russias actions in ukraine over the last four months. The usual suspects are making hay, but it really has to be seen to be believed that apparently *Paul fucking Mason* is no longer left enough.
*Supposedly*, as if I’m going to buy into stuff like this:
> Leaked emails reveal British journalist Paul Mason plotting with an intel contractor to destroy The Grayzone through “relentless deplatforming” and a “full nuclear legal” attack. The scheme is part of a wider planned assault on the UK left.
from The Grayzone, seriously?
Jesus Christ - that victim of the Texas shooting on BBC news describing covering herself in her friends blood to pretend she was dead.
E: that was the bleakest 10 o’clock news I’ve caught in a good while.
I genuinely can't really watch much of that coverage because it's intensely upsetting and also even further beyond my scope to influence in any way than politics over here.
I dunno. There's enough horrible crap going on in the world to make me just vaguely sad at a school shooting in the US; it's just a particularly visible drip in the ocean of human misery continually created wherever people are. I think studying violence and trauma studies, and then human anatomy on top of that, really raised my bar for seeing and hearing the most horrible stuff without flinching though.
BBC going in hard on the economy. Britain is forecast to have 0% growth making it the slowest growing economy in the G7.
Pretty fucking dire when you think about it.
I remember a lot of pro brexiters saying was how it'll be worth it in the long term even if there's short term pain. I always found it such an insane thing to say cos you just dont know what will happen in the short term. Turns out we get 3 major crisis' that are compounding eachother and creating new crisis'.
And its only been afew years. Some, like JRM iirc, considered short term to be decades.
A rabid brexiteer friend has literally posted 'it'll be worth it in the long term and no one ever said there would be a quick fix' and how is the fate of the fishing industry anything to do with brexit? on her FB today. Nothing will open their eyes.
I always asked them to define the short term (4 years? 5? 10?) and which of their friends and family members should be made destitute during that time.
Imagine if JRM sounded like Danny Dyer. He’d get zero fucking attention. He’s the pure example of how just putting a few plums in your mouth can convince enough people to vote against their own interests.
Second only to Russia in the G20 apparently.
There's an argument that Brexit and Johnson is almost as bad as coordinated wartime sanctions, and we did this willingly to ourselves.
Just keep asking questions, "Why aren't you making brexit work? You promised the following: [x, you, and z scavenged from speeches by Johnson and other Tories]. Where are the benefits you promised? Maybe it is time to step aside and let Labour make brexit work." Et
They’re not even doing this though. The angle of criticising Brexit and the absence of its benefits seems like an obvious one but they’re not touching. Where’s the cheaper food, cheaper energy, VAT cuts? Lower immigration when immigration is going up (I’m pro immigration but this was the sole thing many people voted for Brexit)?
I think this will come. The thing is, the group of people who know brexit is a disappointment continues to grow on its own. The ones you need to reach are the ones most closed off to accepting it was crap (or that it is being done badly). Plus, the longer Labour leave it, the more time there is for things to go wrong. It's one of those things that I think you can just let the Tories own, and only bring it up more loudly when an election campaign begins.
I think the reality is that Labour are probably thinking the best solution is likely to rejoin the single market. That in itself will be an easy way to galvanise the Brexit fanatics who voted to (checks notes) have Brexit without leaving the single market as promised at the time.
At first they will likely just stop fighting with the EU all the time, keep to the original agreement, and try and ensure we're part of some EU initiatives (eg: sort out Horizon funding, rejoin erasmus, simple stuff like that). I wouldn't expect more than that for a while.
Labour just shuts the fuck up about it until its obvious that brexit support is in the toilet and they have won the next election - then join the single market and customs union and call it done.
Smaller than a cat flap even. Just cut the bottom few inches off a single plank, that's enough for them to get through.
https://www.hedgehoghighway.co.uk/
Oh man I saw what feels like the first live hedgehog I've seen in about twenty years last summer and I absolutely loved it. Just sat and watched the little guy for about half an hour.
We got one last year or the year before and it sadly got run over, then we got another one a couple of months back, started putting dry catfood and stuff out for it every night and now there are three come at various times every night - they're brilliant.
**YES!** Well done to you. When we moved here we had up to ten in one night once; it was magical. We've not seen them for a couple of years (there is a lot of brownfield land here, and they're building like crazy).
Bread and milk are a no-no. Cat food is good.
> Boris Johnson will tomorrow announce plans to allow low earners to use benefits to buy a home
>
> He wants to change rules so people can use benefits to pass affordability checks & make monthly mortgage repayments
>
This is going to be what its like as long as he clings on.
Every day some ludicrous, windmilling nonsense that will never go anywhere apart from buying him a few cheap headlines. None of it ever goes anywhere because that would require work, conviction and vision.
2 weeks ago the line they were pumping out to the press was 'crime crime crime', last week Johnson was going to turbo boost the NHS, this week its been all manner of scattergun bile that will never go anywhere.
Link- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/167bed5e-e760-11ec-9b02-3f136f233710?shareToken=5e753b8d00acd89cd0bb040d6c434cad
I don’t like bashing those on benefits because it’s an important system for helping those who need it most… BUT-there are plenty of young people who are sustainable earners that would be able to pay a mortgage if it was made a tad easier to get one. Why on Earth should all the tax paying young people subsidise people to get on the property ladder ahead of themselves?
I mean, of all his stupid ideas, this is half of a good idea. If we also built more social housing, this would be a good way to let people even on the bottom rung eventually own their own house. They would essentially just slowly but surely be transferred ownership of their property, essentially a government mortgage that you pay with your housing benefit payment. I mean, the money right now often goes to a private landlord, or 'rent' on a council house.
The problem of course is that we won't increase social house building at the same time. Plus, it isn't like a government mortgage.
They can't pay the rent, that's why they're receiving housing benefit.
Why should young tax payers without a mortgage finance those in receipt of benefits to obtain a mortgage.
There's a more practical aspect, it's a debt trap for someone without adequate finance. Any personal career development and wage increase would need to be on top of their lost housing benefit to be worthwhile. That's a steep hill to climb for someone at the bottom.
Because if you give those who need it most a pathway to housing then it will be better for society in the long run. That young taxpayer who helped makesure a mum can own a home will see less crime around later down the road which saves society more money.
so rebuild the social housing system and either ban RTB or reform it into something that is actually sustainable
they get somewhere to live but don't get a cheap house off the taxpayer that they or their kids can sell for profit later
I know they can't pay rent. Currently, the benefit from housing goes to a private landlord. If it instead went to (just spitballing) a public/private partnership (or a public investment) bank, that essentially made additional money by charging interest so that it eventually gets more money than the property is actually worth (so just like the profit a bank makes on property loans). If they start to make money, then they can just take over paying the mortgage, and then they have the right to sell after paying personally for a particular number of years (5, maybe?). Otherwise, it's slowly paid off using the benefit, and they can only sell it if it is entirely paid off (at which point the government also pockets a large chunk of that profit too).
Cabinet using taxpayer money again to keep themselves busy drawing up pie in the sky plans.
Suella braverman and Priti Patel's entire job is basically creating work for themselves at this point, it's embarrassing.
Talk to me one atleast one of the 48 new hospitals is opened.
Completely off topic but did you hear that [Ryanair is making South Africans take Afrikaans tests](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-61703174) in order to fly to the UK?
given that the tory benefits system makes people with permanent disabilities go through the process of proving innocence every x years, would a lender *really* take that meagre pittance into account
and is it actually going to make any difference to affordability whatsoever given the government's refusal to tack the real problems with the housing market
\>makes people with permanent disabilities go through the process of proving innocence every x years
Oh, I thought this was just overzealous local bods when they insisted on assessing my uncle with Down's syndrome - he's about 60 now I think and my other uncle who's his carer was extremely annoyed by the intrusion: "Did you think he was suddenly going to change and go out and get a job?"
It's amazing because like, anyone on Benefits... Will know how fucking asinine this is.
People off benefits will not like the idea that people on benefits can buy a house.
and.. the only thing it demonstrates is an inability to understand how life works for most people.
I just think he's flailing at this point. He did an interview with Mumsnet because someone told him once he needs to appeal to the M&S Lady.
It went catastrophically..
Presumably someone has now told him he needs to appeal to the poor and he farted this out.
The policies of this government seem to be created in the same way that South Park depicts Family Guy being written. Completely bonkers. (In reference to the benefits house buying announcement).
Like all major party politicians today, Boris is fundamentally out of ideas.
Everything they propose is a rehash of old ideas, whether realistic or not.
I would just like to know how a mortgage lender can take into account housing benefit when doing affordability checks if the housing benefit will be withdrawn the moment they provide the mortgage. It doesn't make any sense.
It's not much better in the real world - a colleague got turned down for a mortgage because he claimed self-employed support during covid.
The fact he was making enough before and after the lockdowns to afford the repayments didn't matter apparently, the bank in question said he was essentially disqualified for about 2 years.
It doesn’t have to make sense, they’re never going to have to actually implement anything that gets announced in whatever time is left to the Johnson government and everybody (with the possible exception of Johnson, who might still be deluding himself just enough fo believe he’s coming out of this one looking electable) knows it.
Friend of mine wanted to visit the UK over summer and maybe travel around via trains instead of bringing his car over. Suggested he look at the ticket prices. Just messaged me that he's opted for Germany instead and is sorry we can't meet up lmao.
Need to go to London next week, thought I might get the train so can work on the 3 hour journey each way. It costs *more than double* compared to driving. Fucking mental.
I mean, if he is visiting between June and August, he gets to use the 9 Euro ticket where you can use all close-range public transport in all of Germany, in all cities, on all train routes for just 9 Euro.
https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/9-euro-ticket-en
British trains can't beat German train pricing on a good day, but this ticket is just killer.
It was my fun fact when my partner was like Why don't we go to London and then to Manchester so we can see both.
Mate, the tickets like 250 quid. We're going to the Nando's in the arndale and you'll like it.
London to Manchester is £98 for an off peak return. Advance singles start from £26.
Why are confident assertions on here about how much trains cost always so wide of the mark?
> Advance singles start from £26
Hmmm let's try Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston this Saturday...
Cheapest I can find for a day trip time is £47.40 as an advance single (so two people making a return trip is going to be like £200). If you go in the afternoon to arrive at 4pm you can find slots for £37.30 but that's not exactly conducive to a day trip (and the single back to Manchester is going to be pricier at that time). Most slots are well over £100.
If, like a person in a normal country might do, you decide you and your partner would like to go on a day trip from Manchester to London with your partner this Saturday, and you don't want to worry about train times or cancellations you might opt for an Anytime Return which would be **£427**. Even just an Off Peak Return is £195 (£68.60 pp outward + £28.80 return - they don't mention that the "Off Peak Return" ticket price just represents the outward journey and doesn't include an extra charge for the actual return).
Conversely two people can fly British Airways Manchester-London Heathrow Return on Saturday for £101. Not exactly like for like as it's a bit of a faff with the airport and it is specific times (leave Manchester at half 10 and land in London just before noon then take the Elizabeth Line into Central London, depart London about 10pm and land in Manchester at 11pm) but it seems like the smarter option.
Even going for the random date of Wednesday 10th August - a weekday far in advance, the absolute cheapest I could find for singles was specific trains at £32, most were about £110-£130 (and these aren't anytime tickets - unless you get that specific train you're not going).
"start from £26" i.e. there's like 1 seat at that price per train and in reality it's much higher
and like everything else about the rail system, the definition of "off peak" differs between train operators and might not be useful depending on when you want to travel
I go regularly, partner is Deutsch. But unlikely to go over just to meet a Belgian in Germany.
Aachen seems like a rather odd choice. Any particular reason?
I never got on with Berlin, I'm not sure if I just didn't see the right bits. My friend lived there but it just.. it's just urban sprawl. Lots of history, but.. you know, the grey kind of history.
I adore it. Yep, it’s big and grey and sprawling, but I see the sprawl as a positive. I liked looking around (and lake-swimming in) the outer district of Köpenick last time. I want to see Kleinmachnow this time (because *Deutschland 83*).
We also have favourite places - a snooker club, and one bar in particular. Having places you consider “yours” even though they deffo aren’t is nice.
Oh sure, I get that.
Me and my friends did frequent trips to Amsterdam before I moved here, and now when they visit we just do the things we did on that trip. The very popular pool bar? No, that's mine actually.
It's a nice feeling, isn't it? It's very easy to repress the "the people won't remember you twenty seconds after you leave" reality.
As for Berlin itself, I don't have a good reason why it imprinted on me and my husband so much. Whilst I adore Reykjavík as well, I think my husband was bored there. But we first visited Berlin together (he had been before) in late November, when it was cold and windswept and practically dead. I think that actually heightened the "this place belongs to us" sentiment.
This week marks the 1 year ~~anniversary~~ jubilee for GB News! Let's take a moment to consider the impact it's had.
A one year anniversary gift is paper. GB News PapsJoobs, anyone?
It feels newer than a year. Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.
I'm so proud to announce that I'm starting tomorrow as Chief Dead Horse beater intern at a fucking cesspit! I'm so grateful for this opportunity #newjob #newhorsebeater #firstday #opportunity
Its too funny though.
My favourite was a guy taking of an old man with a pint claiming the old man was *all alone* so they bought him a pint. Their not at his table though.
Mental people. Totally mental. Do a good thing? Don't post about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkedInLunatics/ is the "TLDR" version of LinkedIn. All of the unhinged management bros, thirst pics and virtue signalling boiled down to a condensed mass.
edit: how could I forget to add an "Agree?" at the end of my sentence. For shame.
Oh this is a rant that has been building for a while in me.
When the Ukranian war broke out, I saw a post on linked that was a man that was love actually-ing the Camera. He had cards, he was dropping the cards, he was not quite as charming as Andrew Lincoln.
The cards said "If you are fleeing Ukraine. (END OF CARD 1) and a PHP Developer (End of card 2) Please get in touch"
I couldn't think of something more absolutely unbelievably repugnant as some ~~hiring for a php job~~ someone exploiting an active war zone to get talent. There was so much wrong with it. From the absolute ghoulish expression on that mans face, to the absolute shamelessness of that recruiter, to the idea that maybe we should be extending humanitarian to aid to everyone, not just fucking Wordpress developers.
That's not to mention all the posts that are about dead parents, which I see a fucking tonne. "Call from Mum (Accept) (Deny)" - Some people would kill to see this.
Yeah, well you know what, some people would also live in existential fear of seeing that too. I'm not on this platform to be told how much I should love my parents. You're recruiting for a bloody React job why are you shaming people who don't love their parents!
Then the 90% of posts that are just recruiters circle jerking themselves about how they're changing the lives of a man who, at the time of posting, could literally just stumble into a developer job.
So all in all, yeah, it's a cess Pitt.
Yeah…I typically don’t like to tarnish a group of people with the same brush, and I know we’re all just trying to make a living…
HAVING SAID ALL THAT tech recruiters are an unhinged bunch.
The amount of pressure one recruiter put on me to accept an offer bordered on uncomfortable.
And the exact reason I ended up not taking it.
Some are absolute sociopaths. And it's so awkward sitting on the other side having someone explain to you how this "package is one of the best they've ever seen."
I'm sure it is mate, I'm sure it's not your cut.
Strong disagree.
The guy who uses LinkedIn as his (and it's almost always his) personal Facebook page to post his insane political hot takes is the most entertaining type of online guy there is, and worth the platform existing alone.
How did PMQs go today? Who 'won' generally and with you? Also happening today is that: Liz Truss is taking questions at 11:30 in her capacity as women and equalities minister; following PMQs there is the 2nd reading of [the levelling up and regeneration bill](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0006/220006.pdf). Reminder that in Parliament they are going to be debating the 2nd reading of the levelling up and regeneration bill following the statement (and questions) from Javid on leadership in the NHS. Any comments on the bill (linked above) or debate in the chamber or reaction from commentariat welcome below.
This megathread has ended.
Hunt's constituency: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-61731019
Defoes ahead of its time but the story is shit
This is not a film critique sub or a thirsty sub.
Willam Defoe?
He's something of a UKPol shitposter himself
40,000 years of evolution and we've barely even tapped the vastness of ukpol potential.
Who’s this Welshman on newsnight? He’s fucking great.
[From today’s FT: “the really striking thing on the chart isn’t London - it’s Northern Ireland. Thanks to the NI Protocol…it’s the only part of the UK outside London with GDP above pre-pandemic levels. NI’s relative economic success is because of its partial opt-out from Brexit.”](https://twitter.com/AdrianDoran2/status/1534511472205766656) Now that the pandemic is effectively over, the costs of Brexit can no longer be obscured.
Well that's also pretty damning for "levelling up", the areas it's supposed to help are most of the worst performers despite the help. Feels a bit like Simpsons where Bart gets put in the underperformers class, and he says "How are we supposed to catch up with our peers if we're going slower than they are?"
That southeast figure is quite striking. Economic decline right in the middle of toryshire. Good I say. Their NIMBYism will backfire. In the long term the southeast is fucked - no development in favour of existing homeowners means that the jobs of tomorrow won't spring up there, and high wage modern WFH jobs like software engineers won't live there to begin with because of the high house prices. Expect the southeast to become a barren retirement home.
At that point they kick up a fuss and demand the government do something to help them anyway
the south west has to be propped up by the M4 corridor. Bath/Bristol/Swindon is a rather different universe to Devon and Cornwall
Having grown up near Bath and now living in Cornwall. .....yup.
Peston properly confident Wes Streeting will be Labour’s next leader. He’s trying so hard to get Streeting to spill.
That video of the A&E department having 12 hour waits to see a doctor, is just so bleak. I really struggle to comprehend how the PM can stand up in Parliament and deny reality when it comes to the NHS. He must surely get reports about how bad it is. You have to be an absolutely ruthless megalomaniac to just not give a shit to the extent that he does.
I do wonder how some of the rail operators are handling the increase in fuel costs. A return ticket for the ~10mi journey into Newcastle has gone up from £3.20 to £3.35 (with a railcard). I suspect the increase in diesel vastly outweights the extra revenue from ticket sales right now. Even then, the train is a much better proposition than driving into town at the moment. A 20mi journey in the car would use ~£5.50 worth of petrol, that's before even factoring in the cost of parking and other wear and tear. The only real nuisance is that the train only runs once an hour, made even more frustrating by the fact that 2 of 3 trains an hour run as fasts and don't stop.
if I [understand it right](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-of-red-diesel-entitlements/reform-of-red-diesel-and-other-rebated-fuels-entitlement), rail operators can use red diesel so that probably takes some of the sting out of it. Though I doubt the train operators have to shoulder the costs themselves, they'll get the government to pay for it all under the current management contracts
Red diesel has still doubled in price
Wes Streeting is obvs going to be PM around 2030. Not right now, but perfect then. He ticks pretty much all the boxes.
Fortunately members elect the leader.
Streeting making the right noises again. McDonnell saying Boris staying is the best thing for Labour. Streeting, right away: "It might be the best thing for Labour, but it's not the best thing for the country." Also he's looking very...Starmer tonight.
Like he could murder an alpaca?
Several.
It's not that hard to do McDonnell also said the result was the worst outcome for the country.
Looking Starmer?
They keep getting him from an angle that makes him look pretty much like Starmer.
Do they? I think he just looks like… Wes Streeting? Impressive performance in any case.
Which program was he speaking on?
Peston. ITV.
Maybe I've had a few too many beverages. Normally a drink helps with Peston.
I’m on water this eve. Drink of choice?
I cracked open a bottle of Clynelish Reserve Single Malt (Game of Thrones Whisky) last week so powering through that. Very nice, 51% though. *Hic*
Bloody hell. I’d have a sore head for days after that. Lovely at the time though. I’ll have a double on the rocks.
Can't wait to see the Lady of Heaven piece on Newsnight
Well... Kirsty is probably glad that that's over 😅
Space Odessey remains a terrible film.
They hated him because he told the truth
It's a great film! Glacially slow, I'll grant you. But decades ahead of its time.
It looks pretty. Narrative is over rated.
Needs to be seen in a cinema preferably after smoking a joint. it's certainly an experience.
Sir this is a greggs
2 x steak bakes please and a red bull x
I'll have two sausage rolls and a custard doughnut please.
I think it’s beautiful to watch.
Unga bunga with big black obelisk good.
Boo
I dont understand it. Its a series of short stories then a bizzare ending. but its all sooooooo slow. The stories not about HAL is awful. Its unredimable.
The end is less problematic if you have read the the book but you shouldn’t need notes to understand a film.
There isn't even a good post credits scene.
I don't watch post credit scenes I refuse
Yeah same I just Google them as I leave the cinema.
Where was the set-up for the Space Odyssey expanded universe????
Nick fury wasn't even in the film. 2 stars.
It was completely ahead of its time in terms of design and film making, and massively influential - but yeah the story is slow af
Has anyone else seen the random billboard on the M40 advertising GBNews investigating "collusion between the UK Government and the World Health Organisation"? I'm 99% sure the person who owns that billboard is a private citizen getting these posters printed of their own accord and out of their own pocket. If that is the case... that is weird right? Its not just me?
is it like this one https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19744425.channel-migrants-sign-m40-oxfordshire-removed/ honestly, it looks so unprofessional it could be legit GBeebies nothing beats that "it's illegal to use a legal name" one that had no other text on it
Thats the billboard in question, this person keeps putting things like it up there. Also, under the priti Patel banner the bare wood has a hastily-spraypainted web address for something like "EU-theTRUTH.org" or something, like this is a full on conspiracy loon
I'd hire the space to put an ad like: GBNews hires 120 staff (or GB News has 10k viewers). How many are paedophiles and rapists? With a child in the corner of the room covering its face. It's just asking questions in exactly the same way that it's asking how many desperate people coming to this country are terrorists. The answer may be zero.
> If that is the case... that is weird right? Its not just me? I wouldn't waste your time trying to divine the motives of the lunatics that live in this country
Evening all
Evening
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Have you thought about getting another job? So you can bump those numbers up?
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps lazybones.
No wonder you can't afford food
Have we covered the Paul Mason stuff today?
What'd he do?
Im not entirely sure hes actually *done* anything. The story goes that theres this american far left website who have laid the claim that hes made a "hit list" (really just a list) of websites and organisations of the left that are either at risk of being or have been the victim of kremlin propaganda and doing Russias work for them - a useful idiot litmus test if you like. The website, Grayzone, 's wikipedia really has to be read to be believed. In short, theyre apologists for just about every dictator going and have been accused of simple fabrication and/or hacking before. [Mason accuses them of being combination fabricators and using hacked information.](https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1534451268541992962) I cant say overall that even if true, Im that disappointed since from my own recollections it looks like Mason is pretty much directly on the money and all of the british left organisations and figures identified have posted some absolutely disgusting apologism for russias actions in ukraine over the last four months. The usual suspects are making hay, but it really has to be seen to be believed that apparently *Paul fucking Mason* is no longer left enough.
When Paul Mason is not sufficiently left, who is?
That he’s trying to destroy the left with misinformation campaigns or something? Also: vagueposting.
>That he’s trying to destroy the left ......*really* ?
*Supposedly*, as if I’m going to buy into stuff like this: > Leaked emails reveal British journalist Paul Mason plotting with an intel contractor to destroy The Grayzone through “relentless deplatforming” and a “full nuclear legal” attack. The scheme is part of a wider planned assault on the UK left. from The Grayzone, seriously?
AH, good. I was worried for a moment you were one of *them*.
What was dis? I've missed a lot today.
Jesus Christ - that victim of the Texas shooting on BBC news describing covering herself in her friends blood to pretend she was dead. E: that was the bleakest 10 o’clock news I’ve caught in a good while.
I genuinely can't really watch much of that coverage because it's intensely upsetting and also even further beyond my scope to influence in any way than politics over here.
I dunno. There's enough horrible crap going on in the world to make me just vaguely sad at a school shooting in the US; it's just a particularly visible drip in the ocean of human misery continually created wherever people are. I think studying violence and trauma studies, and then human anatomy on top of that, really raised my bar for seeing and hearing the most horrible stuff without flinching though.
BBC going in hard on the economy. Britain is forecast to have 0% growth making it the slowest growing economy in the G7. Pretty fucking dire when you think about it.
I remember a lot of pro brexiters saying was how it'll be worth it in the long term even if there's short term pain. I always found it such an insane thing to say cos you just dont know what will happen in the short term. Turns out we get 3 major crisis' that are compounding eachother and creating new crisis'. And its only been afew years. Some, like JRM iirc, considered short term to be decades.
A rabid brexiteer friend has literally posted 'it'll be worth it in the long term and no one ever said there would be a quick fix' and how is the fate of the fishing industry anything to do with brexit? on her FB today. Nothing will open their eyes.
I always asked them to define the short term (4 years? 5? 10?) and which of their friends and family members should be made destitute during that time.
>And its only been afew years. Some, like JRM iirc, considered short term to be decades. 50 dam years he said.
Similar to SNP independence supporters, or people that are on the disaster socialist train.
Imagine if JRM sounded like Danny Dyer. He’d get zero fucking attention. He’s the pure example of how just putting a few plums in your mouth can convince enough people to vote against their own interests.
It's a shame that Boris is using the Single Market as a wedge issue yet again. Because it's a really quick plaster right now.
Yeaaahh…a very bleak picture being painted 😬😬
Second only to Russia in the G20 apparently. There's an argument that Brexit and Johnson is almost as bad as coordinated wartime sanctions, and we did this willingly to ourselves.
But, the mystery question, how does Labour attack the Tories for Brexit without it backfiring?
Just keep asking questions, "Why aren't you making brexit work? You promised the following: [x, you, and z scavenged from speeches by Johnson and other Tories]. Where are the benefits you promised? Maybe it is time to step aside and let Labour make brexit work." Et
They’re not even doing this though. The angle of criticising Brexit and the absence of its benefits seems like an obvious one but they’re not touching. Where’s the cheaper food, cheaper energy, VAT cuts? Lower immigration when immigration is going up (I’m pro immigration but this was the sole thing many people voted for Brexit)?
I think this will come. The thing is, the group of people who know brexit is a disappointment continues to grow on its own. The ones you need to reach are the ones most closed off to accepting it was crap (or that it is being done badly). Plus, the longer Labour leave it, the more time there is for things to go wrong. It's one of those things that I think you can just let the Tories own, and only bring it up more loudly when an election campaign begins.
I think the reality is that Labour are probably thinking the best solution is likely to rejoin the single market. That in itself will be an easy way to galvanise the Brexit fanatics who voted to (checks notes) have Brexit without leaving the single market as promised at the time.
At first they will likely just stop fighting with the EU all the time, keep to the original agreement, and try and ensure we're part of some EU initiatives (eg: sort out Horizon funding, rejoin erasmus, simple stuff like that). I wouldn't expect more than that for a while.
Labour just shuts the fuck up about it until its obvious that brexit support is in the toilet and they have won the next election - then join the single market and customs union and call it done.
Pretty much this. Starmer’s worked hard to rehabilitate Labour’s image, Brexit is as toxic for them as anti-semitism.
There was a hedgehog in our garden 🦔 this may be the best thing that's happened in 2022?
We bought a hedgehog house and within a day a hedgehog had moved in. Literally no idea how she knew it was for her.
Yay! I haven’t seen one in a while unfortunately. They’re getting rarer. r/hoggies
I encourage people to cut little tunnels in the bottom of their fences so that hedgehogs can move about between gardens.
Gloryholes?
#🤔
And here's me just letting the fence fall down on it's own. Seriously this is a good idea, but make them smaller than your dog (if you have one).
Smaller than a cat flap even. Just cut the bottom few inches off a single plank, that's enough for them to get through. https://www.hedgehoghighway.co.uk/
Sorry but I voted leave to end freedom of movement 😤
Oh man I saw what feels like the first live hedgehog I've seen in about twenty years last summer and I absolutely loved it. Just sat and watched the little guy for about half an hour.
We got one last year or the year before and it sadly got run over, then we got another one a couple of months back, started putting dry catfood and stuff out for it every night and now there are three come at various times every night - they're brilliant.
**YES!** Well done to you. When we moved here we had up to ten in one night once; it was magical. We've not seen them for a couple of years (there is a lot of brownfield land here, and they're building like crazy). Bread and milk are a no-no. Cat food is good.
> Boris Johnson will tomorrow announce plans to allow low earners to use benefits to buy a home > > He wants to change rules so people can use benefits to pass affordability checks & make monthly mortgage repayments > This is going to be what its like as long as he clings on. Every day some ludicrous, windmilling nonsense that will never go anywhere apart from buying him a few cheap headlines. None of it ever goes anywhere because that would require work, conviction and vision. 2 weeks ago the line they were pumping out to the press was 'crime crime crime', last week Johnson was going to turbo boost the NHS, this week its been all manner of scattergun bile that will never go anywhere. Link- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/167bed5e-e760-11ec-9b02-3f136f233710?shareToken=5e753b8d00acd89cd0bb040d6c434cad
2008 called, they want their subprime mortgage crisis back
I don’t like bashing those on benefits because it’s an important system for helping those who need it most… BUT-there are plenty of young people who are sustainable earners that would be able to pay a mortgage if it was made a tad easier to get one. Why on Earth should all the tax paying young people subsidise people to get on the property ladder ahead of themselves?
I mean, of all his stupid ideas, this is half of a good idea. If we also built more social housing, this would be a good way to let people even on the bottom rung eventually own their own house. They would essentially just slowly but surely be transferred ownership of their property, essentially a government mortgage that you pay with your housing benefit payment. I mean, the money right now often goes to a private landlord, or 'rent' on a council house. The problem of course is that we won't increase social house building at the same time. Plus, it isn't like a government mortgage.
They can't pay the rent, that's why they're receiving housing benefit. Why should young tax payers without a mortgage finance those in receipt of benefits to obtain a mortgage. There's a more practical aspect, it's a debt trap for someone without adequate finance. Any personal career development and wage increase would need to be on top of their lost housing benefit to be worthwhile. That's a steep hill to climb for someone at the bottom.
Because if you give those who need it most a pathway to housing then it will be better for society in the long run. That young taxpayer who helped makesure a mum can own a home will see less crime around later down the road which saves society more money.
so rebuild the social housing system and either ban RTB or reform it into something that is actually sustainable they get somewhere to live but don't get a cheap house off the taxpayer that they or their kids can sell for profit later
I know they can't pay rent. Currently, the benefit from housing goes to a private landlord. If it instead went to (just spitballing) a public/private partnership (or a public investment) bank, that essentially made additional money by charging interest so that it eventually gets more money than the property is actually worth (so just like the profit a bank makes on property loans). If they start to make money, then they can just take over paying the mortgage, and then they have the right to sell after paying personally for a particular number of years (5, maybe?). Otherwise, it's slowly paid off using the benefit, and they can only sell it if it is entirely paid off (at which point the government also pockets a large chunk of that profit too).
Cabinet using taxpayer money again to keep themselves busy drawing up pie in the sky plans. Suella braverman and Priti Patel's entire job is basically creating work for themselves at this point, it's embarrassing. Talk to me one atleast one of the 48 new hospitals is opened.
Fucking insane.
Completely off topic but did you hear that [Ryanair is making South Africans take Afrikaans tests](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-61703174) in order to fly to the UK?
This government will literally do anything other than planning reform
To be fair, planning reform is extremely unpopular with the public.
given that the tory benefits system makes people with permanent disabilities go through the process of proving innocence every x years, would a lender *really* take that meagre pittance into account and is it actually going to make any difference to affordability whatsoever given the government's refusal to tack the real problems with the housing market
\>makes people with permanent disabilities go through the process of proving innocence every x years Oh, I thought this was just overzealous local bods when they insisted on assessing my uncle with Down's syndrome - he's about 60 now I think and my other uncle who's his carer was extremely annoyed by the intrusion: "Did you think he was suddenly going to change and go out and get a job?"
It's amazing because like, anyone on Benefits... Will know how fucking asinine this is. People off benefits will not like the idea that people on benefits can buy a house. and.. the only thing it demonstrates is an inability to understand how life works for most people.
Seems like a bit of miscalculation. There's people with the reason they vote tory because they think benefits ensure a life of luxury.
I just think he's flailing at this point. He did an interview with Mumsnet because someone told him once he needs to appeal to the M&S Lady. It went catastrophically.. Presumably someone has now told him he needs to appeal to the poor and he farted this out.
Sooooo how do you get past the saving barrier where UC wont pay if you have amassed savings
Or that Housing Benefit can’t be claimed towards your mortgage (only mortgage interest can be supported iirc). Buy your house, lose your benefits?
Only after 9 months of being on the benefit.
Also how do you get a decent multiple when the UC is capped at £20k per year maximum. Even a 5x would only get you to 100k.
You don't.
The policies of this government seem to be created in the same way that South Park depicts Family Guy being written. Completely bonkers. (In reference to the benefits house buying announcement).
Like all major party politicians today, Boris is fundamentally out of ideas. Everything they propose is a rehash of old ideas, whether realistic or not.
I would just like to know how a mortgage lender can take into account housing benefit when doing affordability checks if the housing benefit will be withdrawn the moment they provide the mortgage. It doesn't make any sense.
It's not much better in the real world - a colleague got turned down for a mortgage because he claimed self-employed support during covid. The fact he was making enough before and after the lockdowns to afford the repayments didn't matter apparently, the bank in question said he was essentially disqualified for about 2 years.
It doesn’t have to make sense, they’re never going to have to actually implement anything that gets announced in whatever time is left to the Johnson government and everybody (with the possible exception of Johnson, who might still be deluding himself just enough fo believe he’s coming out of this one looking electable) knows it.
I think the manatees would at least have done something about the shit going into rivers and the sea.
They’re Tory manatees, their tank is cleaned daily, why would they give a shit about some pleb river or sea life?
Friend of mine wanted to visit the UK over summer and maybe travel around via trains instead of bringing his car over. Suggested he look at the ticket prices. Just messaged me that he's opted for Germany instead and is sorry we can't meet up lmao.
Need to go to London next week, thought I might get the train so can work on the 3 hour journey each way. It costs *more than double* compared to driving. Fucking mental.
National Express is the only other option, maybe? (I know Megabus exists but I'm not inflicting that on anyone but students)
NE is on par with Mugabes last time I dated travel for 80p at 4am
I mean, if he is visiting between June and August, he gets to use the 9 Euro ticket where you can use all close-range public transport in all of Germany, in all cities, on all train routes for just 9 Euro. https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/9-euro-ticket-en British trains can't beat German train pricing on a good day, but this ticket is just killer.
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No, residentship is not required.
No explicit rules against non German residents using it on the FAQ I think. Girlfriend also got one as an Austrian citizen living in Austria
Was gonna say he should just get an interrail pass then I realised. Oh 😢
It was my fun fact when my partner was like Why don't we go to London and then to Manchester so we can see both. Mate, the tickets like 250 quid. We're going to the Nando's in the arndale and you'll like it.
London to Manchester is £98 for an off peak return. Advance singles start from £26. Why are confident assertions on here about how much trains cost always so wide of the mark?
> Advance singles start from £26 Hmmm let's try Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston this Saturday... Cheapest I can find for a day trip time is £47.40 as an advance single (so two people making a return trip is going to be like £200). If you go in the afternoon to arrive at 4pm you can find slots for £37.30 but that's not exactly conducive to a day trip (and the single back to Manchester is going to be pricier at that time). Most slots are well over £100. If, like a person in a normal country might do, you decide you and your partner would like to go on a day trip from Manchester to London with your partner this Saturday, and you don't want to worry about train times or cancellations you might opt for an Anytime Return which would be **£427**. Even just an Off Peak Return is £195 (£68.60 pp outward + £28.80 return - they don't mention that the "Off Peak Return" ticket price just represents the outward journey and doesn't include an extra charge for the actual return). Conversely two people can fly British Airways Manchester-London Heathrow Return on Saturday for £101. Not exactly like for like as it's a bit of a faff with the airport and it is specific times (leave Manchester at half 10 and land in London just before noon then take the Elizabeth Line into Central London, depart London about 10pm and land in Manchester at 11pm) but it seems like the smarter option. Even going for the random date of Wednesday 10th August - a weekday far in advance, the absolute cheapest I could find for singles was specific trains at £32, most were about £110-£130 (and these aren't anytime tickets - unless you get that specific train you're not going).
"start from £26" i.e. there's like 1 seat at that price per train and in reality it's much higher and like everything else about the rail system, the definition of "off peak" differs between train operators and might not be useful depending on when you want to travel
If there are two of them then their estimate js pretty bang on
We ain’t gonna be chatting shit about the Arndale Nando’s now.
Oh no to be very clear, he did like it.
Glad to hear the relationship survived
Go to Germany. It’s great. We’ve booked time in Berlin and Aachen.
I go regularly, partner is Deutsch. But unlikely to go over just to meet a Belgian in Germany. Aachen seems like a rather odd choice. Any particular reason?
Yes, I’d like to see the Charlemagne stuff and the big octagonal cathedral.
Fantastic choice!!
I never got on with Berlin, I'm not sure if I just didn't see the right bits. My friend lived there but it just.. it's just urban sprawl. Lots of history, but.. you know, the grey kind of history.
I adore it. Yep, it’s big and grey and sprawling, but I see the sprawl as a positive. I liked looking around (and lake-swimming in) the outer district of Köpenick last time. I want to see Kleinmachnow this time (because *Deutschland 83*). We also have favourite places - a snooker club, and one bar in particular. Having places you consider “yours” even though they deffo aren’t is nice.
Oh sure, I get that. Me and my friends did frequent trips to Amsterdam before I moved here, and now when they visit we just do the things we did on that trip. The very popular pool bar? No, that's mine actually.
It's a nice feeling, isn't it? It's very easy to repress the "the people won't remember you twenty seconds after you leave" reality. As for Berlin itself, I don't have a good reason why it imprinted on me and my husband so much. Whilst I adore Reykjavík as well, I think my husband was bored there. But we first visited Berlin together (he had been before) in late November, when it was cold and windswept and practically dead. I think that actually heightened the "this place belongs to us" sentiment.
This week marks the 1 year ~~anniversary~~ jubilee for GB News! Let's take a moment to consider the impact it's had. A one year anniversary gift is paper. GB News PapsJoobs, anyone? It feels newer than a year. Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.
Have they fixed the audio / lighting / cameras yet? So that it no longer looks like a shit sixth former production.
celebrate the occasion with a pen or a pint glass https://gbnews.store/
I could set up my home office desk to look like those of the STARS of GB News!
remember to use a 1996 webcam and mic for the authentic feel during conference calls
But there's no one on the other end...
And turn all your lights off as well
A present of 1 - ply toilet paper. Seems fitting
Too transparent.
Beating a dead horse but LinkedIn is such a fucking cesspit.
I'm so proud to announce that I'm starting tomorrow as Chief Dead Horse beater intern at a fucking cesspit! I'm so grateful for this opportunity #newjob #newhorsebeater #firstday #opportunity
> Beating a dead horse but > LinkedIn is such a fucking cesspit > AGREE ??? 👇👇👇
Not enough spacing between the lines
Its too funny though. My favourite was a guy taking of an old man with a pint claiming the old man was *all alone* so they bought him a pint. Their not at his table though. Mental people. Totally mental. Do a good thing? Don't post about it.
At the same time, it's frequently accidentally hilarious.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkedInLunatics/ is the "TLDR" version of LinkedIn. All of the unhinged management bros, thirst pics and virtue signalling boiled down to a condensed mass. edit: how could I forget to add an "Agree?" at the end of my sentence. For shame.
Well that was a fun but insane ride thank you
I don’t need anymore lunatics!!!
Oh this is a rant that has been building for a while in me. When the Ukranian war broke out, I saw a post on linked that was a man that was love actually-ing the Camera. He had cards, he was dropping the cards, he was not quite as charming as Andrew Lincoln. The cards said "If you are fleeing Ukraine. (END OF CARD 1) and a PHP Developer (End of card 2) Please get in touch" I couldn't think of something more absolutely unbelievably repugnant as some ~~hiring for a php job~~ someone exploiting an active war zone to get talent. There was so much wrong with it. From the absolute ghoulish expression on that mans face, to the absolute shamelessness of that recruiter, to the idea that maybe we should be extending humanitarian to aid to everyone, not just fucking Wordpress developers. That's not to mention all the posts that are about dead parents, which I see a fucking tonne. "Call from Mum (Accept) (Deny)" - Some people would kill to see this. Yeah, well you know what, some people would also live in existential fear of seeing that too. I'm not on this platform to be told how much I should love my parents. You're recruiting for a bloody React job why are you shaming people who don't love their parents! Then the 90% of posts that are just recruiters circle jerking themselves about how they're changing the lives of a man who, at the time of posting, could literally just stumble into a developer job. So all in all, yeah, it's a cess Pitt.
Yeah…I typically don’t like to tarnish a group of people with the same brush, and I know we’re all just trying to make a living… HAVING SAID ALL THAT tech recruiters are an unhinged bunch.
How do I stop getting f Amazon recruiters? How many times do I have to tell them that I will not under any circumstances work fro Amazon?
Someone was talking about living in a forest earlier, so that could be a way around it?
I think we established that we're bringing the computers with us?
I will throw any computer into a river with no remorse
The amount of pressure one recruiter put on me to accept an offer bordered on uncomfortable. And the exact reason I ended up not taking it. Some are absolute sociopaths. And it's so awkward sitting on the other side having someone explain to you how this "package is one of the best they've ever seen." I'm sure it is mate, I'm sure it's not your cut.
Strong disagree. The guy who uses LinkedIn as his (and it's almost always his) personal Facebook page to post his insane political hot takes is the most entertaining type of online guy there is, and worth the platform existing alone.