Brew

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Posts posted by Brew

  2. Anything Political

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    Posted

    The kings College article.

     

    Turns out is not an unbiased report by a number of academics, it's another Byline times article written by Dr Corbet who is using his employers name to add credence.

     

    The first half is nothing more than a reiteration of events during the Johnson era, something we are aware of have discussed at length so nothing new there. Though there is vague reference to Chris Mullin's novel "A Very British Coup" hoping those who read if will recognise political shenanigans at Westminster. It is also almost four years out date and as yet no coup has taken place.

     

    The Russia report opens the door to conspiracy theories but is in fact little more than he said she said. 

     

    Corbet them moves on to the government v civil service.  The has been various controversies between parliament and the government of the day as far back parliament itself.

    Memorable ones recently are the Ponting affair and Sue Gray's appointment, 'twas ever thus and will always be so. 

  3. Anything Political

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    Posted

    6 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

    But whatever...if theTory attitudes actions and pronouncements against institutions aren't malicious..how would you describe them?

    I don't, they are what they are, part of the huffing and puffing of political rhetoric. Malicious intent I simply don't see.

  4. Anything Political

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    23 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

    So you don't see the Tory obsession with re-framing anything that is basically socially liberal, as either 'woke', 'socialist', or 'far left', as malice?

    Again no... that's simply your usual extreme view and interpretation

  6. Anything Political

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    9 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

    I only read the article, which you have simply dismissed, seemingly  preferring to undermine it by assiciationvwith other stuff.

    However,just because you don't like the methodology, doesn't make their conclusion wrong.

     

    The methodology is unknown, the results I question on the grounds of known bias by the authors. I tend to read more than your links, authors publishers, etc .The articles, the tone of the writing and the choice of subject all  tend to make me think the facts are cherry picked to present their case to their advantage and by association the conclusion is suspect.

     

    I don't have time to read the new link, I'm tired now but will look later. I will say I would take an established University research paper over those with an axe to grind.

     

     

     

     

  8. Anything Political

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    Posted

    11 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

    Also, whenever considering  the national debt..ask who owns it and how they feel about it.

     

    Shal I ask what they think of the successive governments who created it as well? You know as well as I do what happens the the printing presses roll.

     

    The problem is Labour is obsessed with looking back to find excuses and someone to blame, Forget Truss, may Cameron et.al, It is what it is so lets deal with it. While we look backwards we can't look forward and see what's coming.

  9. Anything Political

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    Posted

    It's from your link to the ridiculous  Byline supplement, the one where they carefully photographed Anderson behind a microphone to give hi the appearance of a Hitler moustache. the one where they appeared to give credence to Gallagher claiming to run for PM. 

    They are clearly as left wing as it gets. The two main characters are both Labour supporters, juke is/was a card carrying member

    Let's consider a couple of the bylines:

     

    "Musk is using Twitter to destroy objective truth".

     

    "The FarRight Eugenics behind Musks takeove of Twitter"

     

    "Putins Brexit Coup"

     

    And there's more of this hysterical tripe

     

     

    The polls are held in such high regard they are carried by that bastion of left wing thinking, the Guardian, except it's not, nor does any another respectable media cover i

     

    I have more confidence in GBNews than any propaganda poll they publish. The figures they quote are only believable by the gullible.

  11. Anything Political

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    Posted

    4 hours ago, DJ360 said:

    Meanwhile..

     

    https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/exclusive-conservative-party-contributing#Echobox=1709974830

     

    From which...

     

     

     

    I may just have previously hinted at such developments.. in passing..:rolleyes:

     

    I don't think I've come across such ridiculously biased opinion poll before. you must see that even with your  left wing prejudices at full power.

     

    They want Lian Gallagher for Prime Minister!?

     OK now I realise it's a spoof, but it's quite sinister in it's way, a bit like the TikTok/Facebook dumbo posters and those who believe them.

  12. Anything Political

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    3 hours ago, DJ360 said:

     

    On the same general topic.  I don't understand the full argument, but there certainly is an argument that Taxes DO NOT fund public spending, or at the very least, the commonly held belief that 'Govt has no money' and therefore can only spend what it either raises in taxes, or borrows from 'the markets', is not actually true. 

     

    Not sure I follow the logic of that, if it's not tax or borrowed the only other money available are the reserves and, as Brown found out with gold sales, once it 's gone it's gone. Is this one of you Pinkfish radicals?

     

    3 hours ago, DJ360 said:

    but if anyone here has not yet noticed that everything in the country is broken after 14 years of a Tory combination of malice, greed and incompetence, then it's hardly worth my trouble.

     

    The infrastructure is as you say not in the best of health but piling all the blame on the Tories is stretching it a bit.

    The crumbling schools are due to construction materials that came into being and used way back in the 50s, and successive governments since have failed to  note the potential problems waiting round the corner.

     

    Failed privatisation? true enough in my view, but Labour had thirteen years to correct any mistakes by the Tories, thirteen years to put the utilities right, but comprehensively failed to do so whilst they were hanging an albatross round the neck of the NHS with PFI.

     

    We now spend more than twice the defence budget on debt interest, more than three times the cost of transport and more than four times the cost long term care - just on interest.

     

    True Major started PFI  but Blair/Brown went ahead with the short term gains and now has just about crippled us with it. 

     

    Greed I can see, incompetence is rife but malice?, really? That's just far left hyperbole and in my mind unwarranted.

  13. Anything Political

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    Posted

    Libraries will eventually morph into a department, maybe not even the primary one, of some community/council building rather than a stand alone facility.

     

    I wonder though at the cost of the more esoteric volumes, technical, academic and study material etc. when publishers main customers' slowly disappear. 

  14. Anything Political

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    Libraries are a wistful memory for those who used to use them but few now do so regularly, I count myself among them. Rather like the bitter sweet memory for things like Drury Hill, steam trains and Shippos' 'osses. They are not actually needed now, but it would be nice to know they're there.

    I mentioned before they are expensive, difficult to access and though notionally available to everyone, actually only serve a minority.

  15. Anything Political

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    2 hours ago, DJ360 said:

    The debt as %ge of GDP is not automatically a big deal.

    I was presenting it as an example of the smokescreen and how to present a negative as a positive. As a key performance indicator it has it's uses to economists but little relevance to ordinary folk unless someone is trying to sell you a cat in a sack

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  16. Anything Political

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    1 hour ago, DJ360 said:

    Also, we have the whole issue of employers whinging that NI is a 'Tax on Jobs'. A dubious argument at best, but no doubt the major motivator for Tories to reduce it.

     

    The cuts are for employees not employers.

     

    Another thought, the planned cuts will be unpopular to say the least, but they are sneakily planned to be announced after the election. 

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  17. Anything Political

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    2 hours ago, DJ360 said:

    Top level of, I think £60k or £80k, was around £900 better off, somewhere in the middle, around £40k, were £600 better off and the lowest level of around £20k, was £150 WORSE OFF. I may not have those figures totally correct from memory, but they won't be far off and for me they say it all...

     

    There is an anomaly with child benefit. A single earner over the £80k gets nothing, A joint income totalling £120k keeps it all.

    I said he raised a smokescreen and it's the fact overall the tax take will actually be higher as a percentage of GDP than it has been for at least 50yrs and the average earner is worse off. The 1% growth hunt quoted is accurate, BUT, it's smoke and mirrors. The rise is due to an increase in population not an increase per person.

     

    There are quite a few differences in the various analyses depending their particular political stance but overall they agree pensioners are going tb be worse off.

     

    Regardless of who wins the next election there will have to be eye watering cuts in public spending if national debt is to be reduced. The present level of debt is almost the same as the GDP and interest alone is staggering high.

     

    Labour are doing their usual fence siting which irritates me no end. Col's view that Starmer is keeping his cards close to his chest just won't wash.

  18. How's your day?

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    3 hours ago, katyjay said:

    We have big cats wanderinf our neighbourhood, as does everyone down here. Bobcats,  they are beautful.

    Viewed from here they are, not too sure about finding one on the patio

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  19. Anything Political

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    Hunt made a surprisingly good speech with some good points, some obscure reasoning, some humour (even Starmer laughed), some barbs against Raynor taking advantage of Thatchers right to buy, and a decent smoke screen.

    It was  fairly complex and may yet prove to be a poison chalice for Labour.

    His aspirations and predictions for what the budget will achieve are a wish list and highly unlikely to come to fruition; but we can say that about every budget.

    He may also be paying it forward to give the Tories in opposition ammunition when Labour have to cancel or rescind all or part of it.

     

    Why would someone on £80,000 need child benefit? maybe hoping to buy votes from the middle classes? won't work though, it doesn't even cover the school fees. ;).

    Or is it a clever ruse to push them into a higher tax bracket?

     

    The SNP calling for a  highly unusual division, gave Starmer the breathing space to marshal his thoughts and his speech.

    After a hesitant start it was actually better than his usual performance but to expect a detailed response in such a short time is unreasonable. His  response, once got going, it made clear his researchers had a long list of points to make, they just needed a little time to get them in the right order.

    He was quite determined to attack the Tories record but said little about the budget itself.

    • Like 3

  21. Fish and Chip Shops

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    4 hours ago, philmayfield said:

    The whole setup looks a bit tatty.

    The vampire has long gone and yes the outside is tatty. Inside you wont see many changes at all, I think army surplus days are done now. A lot of what they sell looks like it's repo and quite expensive

  23. Fish and Chip Shops

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    3 hours ago, philmayfield said:

    I’ve just been researching Belper. It sounds like a nice town. I always confuse it with Heanor. I must come and have a look.

    My brother lives in Belper, nice little town, I live in Heanor. Should Derbyshire have a backside and  a pimple... Heanor would be the pimple. 

  24. Anything Political

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    1 hour ago, DJ360 said:

    Stretching things a bit there Jim. 

     

    True, but the principle remains the same. RSPB, SCOPE, Woodland Trust +++ and ETON are all 'charities'.  Only ETON do not make political donations but by the rules it would be OK if they did.

     

    Lobbying to further their aims is one thing. (though lobbying a 'think tank' seems somewhat dubious), but donating money given by those who are unaware of the fact is to my mind not lobbying at all. even union subscriptions have an opt out.

    But this is going nowhere..... I was simply surprised at the amount the Fabians accept from charities.

     

    Although

    1 hour ago, DJ360 said:

    This not helped since the Charity Commission has been changed under this Govt.

     

    Looking at the list of changes I see nothing untoward...