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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The good people of Oldham West could also be electing a fut

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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754

    RobD said:

    So yesterday we were told the plane was warned ten times in 5 minutes to leave Turkey's airspace, but now apparently the plane was only in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. I suppose they could have been warning while approaching it, but still that is not what the earlier reports said.

    It would also appear that the Turkish plane/s that shot the Russian jet down violated Syrian airspace to do so.
    The Turks are the Good Guys, the Russians the Baddies. Always were, always will be.

    WWI?
    Slight confusion there. Mea culpa.

    To call WWI a slight confusion is something of an understatement.
    One could argue that's how it started !
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    blackburn63blackburn63 Posts: 4,492

    TOPPING said:

    Just hearing about a huge affordable housing programme to be announced by GO.

    Is that tim dancing a jig I can see in the distance?

    Well let's see

    Osborne announcing something and it actually happening are two different things.
    Quite, he has spent the last 6 months parading around as the heir apparent, he needs to concentrate on his job.
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    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    Good morning, everyone.

    Any more polls due? UKIP must be wondering if a victory can be achieved. And, if it is, perhaps the donors will return and the membership revive.

    If they do win, they'll have done it with Farage having been virtually invisible as well. I can't remember the last time I saw him on TV.

    It's all the Corbyn and Cameron show, with a warm-up comedy act from Sturgeon and Davidson. Farage and Farron don't stand a chance.
    If UKIP win, it will be because the voters madeit a referendum on Corbyn.
    There's just no way UKIP will win and it's not worth the hope.

    I'm on UKIP at quite long odds. If turnout is as low as I think it will be (sub 30%), then I reckon they are in with a good shout.
    Selling the Ladbrokes line on turnout for Oldham is the best value political bet there's been since Corbyn and the Labour leadership IMHO.
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    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....
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    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited November 2015

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham dying? Pathetic.

    She's another member of the 'Look how bad it all is' brigade, seemingly oblivious to the fact that what most people see is totally different to how it's described.

    Her party however, is dying. How has she missed that?
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    GO going to go after HB.

    Good.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Is she fit to do the job ?

    http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-mp-jess-phillips-lost-9572525

    "Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has revealed that she “lost it” in the Chamber of the House of Commons - after a Tory Minister taunted her for losing a vote on women’s pay.

    Ms Phillips (Lab Yardley) had a blazing row with Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities.

    She said: “When the votes were declared and we lost, I lost it.”"
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

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    Miss Plato, is she the same MP who sneered at the concept of discussing men's issues in Parliament?
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    edited November 2015
    Morning all - has World War III started yet?

    As a partial answer to the question of where ISIL/ISIS/Daesh are getting their funding, there is a very high profile trial going on in Abu Dhabi right now, (no Mr Dancer, not the weekend's F1 race!) with 41 Emiratis on trial for sedition. It has been adjourned for a couple of weeks, possibly for legal argument about what evidence will be brought up in court.
    http://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/terrorists-planned-to-bomb-mall - local UAE newspaper equivalent of the Times.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I think so, she also told Diane Abbot to Eff Off.

    Every cloud...

    Miss Plato, is she the same MP who sneered at the concept of discussing men's issues in Parliament?

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    These days, looks and attractiveness are hugely important for a successful party leader and, how to put this kindly, Mr McMahon hardly seems blessed in that department. Yes he could lose the stubble but nothing he can do about the big ears, big nose and eyes too close together. He'll certainly never have that Blair / Cameron look, of being the kind of man that middle class ladies hope their daughters will marry. After Miliband and Corbyn Labour might actually want to win and therefore be unwilling to elect a third weird looking leader in a row.
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    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited November 2015

    LondonBob said:

    RobD said:

    So yesterday we were told the plane was warned ten times in 5 minutes to leave Turkey's airspace, but now apparently the plane was only in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. I suppose they could have been warning while approaching it, but still that is not what the earlier reports said.

    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-did-turkey-attack-a-russian-plane/
    I wouldn't even believe that claim, clear premeditated ambush that was ordered at the highest level. Seems to be beyond the wit of our government to criticise Turkey despite their flooding of Europe with refugees, support for Islamic State etc. Whose payroll are they on, isn't it supposed to be ours?
    https://www.rt.com/news/323369-turkey-downed-russian-jet/

    Good news is the other pilot was rescued by Russian special forces and the SAA.
    So Turkey forced the Russian pilots over the border?

    This was only premeditated in the fact it was bound to happen. Russia had apologised for violating Turkish airspace in the past, yet appear to have done little to stop it happening again. They knew that Turkey had shot down two Syrian planes for doing the same thing.

    If you want to look for premeditation in this, you might want to look towards Russia as well as Turkey. Either they wanted this to happen, or their pilots were incompetent fools.

    As for Turkey's 'flooding of Europe with refugees': you do know what Turkey's been doing for four years to house about two million refugees? If they really wanted to 'flood' the EU, they'd have done a much better job of it before now.
    Turn the tables, and ask what would Russia have done, if a foreign airforce had made repeated violations of it's airspace over a number of weeks, and failed to respond when intercepted? They'd shoot.

    The Vlads have been flying close to the UK's region of interest, and those of other NATO countries over the last year, in order to gauge the QRA response. The Blackjacks picked up last week on a bombing run to Syria, were deliberately flown the long way around the UK, and across Gibraltar for exactly that reason.

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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    edited November 2015
    Rory Stewart has similar issues. Jonny Mercer on the otherhand...
    HHemmelig said:

    These days, looks and attractiveness are hugely important for a successful party leader and, how to put this kindly, Mr McMahon hardly seems blessed in that department. Yes he could lose the stubble but nothing he can do about the big ears, big nose and eyes too close together. He'll certainly never have that Blair / Cameron look, of being the kind of man that middle class ladies hope their daughters will marry. After Miliband and Corbyn Labour might actually want to win and therefore be unwilling to elect a third weird looking leader in a row.

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    Incidentally, Kuenssberg was talking yesterday about Osborne 'hacking back the state' without mentioning we've got a bloody enormous deficit, with interest payments greater than the budgets for Defence or Education. That's a rather significant omission.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    edited November 2015
    watford30 said:

    LondonBob said:

    RobD said:

    So yesterday we were told the plane was warned ten times in 5 minutes to leave Turkey's airspace, but now apparently the plane was only in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. I suppose they could have been warning while approaching it, but still that is not what the earlier reports said.

    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-did-turkey-attack-a-russian-plane/
    I wouldn't even believe that claim, clear premeditated ambush that was ordered at the highest level. Seems to be beyond the wit of our government to criticise Turkey despite their flooding of Europe with refugees, support for Islamic State etc. Whose payroll are they on, isn't it supposed to be ours?
    https://www.rt.com/news/323369-turkey-downed-russian-jet/

    Good news is the other pilot was rescued by Russian special forces and the SAA.
    So Turkey forced the Russian pilots over the border?

    This was only premeditated in the fact it was bound to happen. Russia had apologised for violating Turkish airspace in the past, yet appear to have done little to stop it happening again. They knew that Turkey had shot down two Syrian planes for doing the same thing.

    If you want to look for premeditation in this, you might want to look towards Russia as well as Turkey. Either they wanted this to happen, or their pilots were incompetent fools.

    As for Turkey's 'flooding of Europe with refugees': you do know what Turkey's been doing for four years to house about two million refugees? If they really wanted to 'flood' the EU, they'd have done a much better job of it before now.
    Turn the tables, and ask what would Russia have done, if a foreign airforce had made repeated violations of it's airspace over a number of weeks, and failed to respond when intercepted? They'd shoot.

    The Vlads have been deliberately flying close to the UK's region of interest, and those of other NATO countries over the last year, in order to gauge the QRA response.

    I'm surprised the Turks didn't react sooner.
    One assumes that someone high up the Turkish chain of command decided that Russia had been given enough warnings about encroachment. Let's hope the diplomats on both sides can smooth things over before the military decides to escalate the conflict.

    Every week or two for the last few months the QRA Typhoons have been scrambled to watch the Russians fly as close as they dare to UK airspace, so they obviously enjoy these games projecting their strength for others to see - until Turkey called their bluff yesterday.
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    watford30 said:

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham dying? Pathetic.

    She's another member of the 'Look how bad it all is' brigade, seemingly oblivious to the fact that what most people see is totally different to how it's described.

    Her party however, is dying. How has she missed that?
    IIRC Birmingham was the UK's most prosperous city in the 1950s, and since then has gradually but relentlessly declined, with large parts of the city now being some of England's worst shitholes. The last Labour government did nothing to reverse this trend, in fact by accelerating the deindustrialisation of the West Midlands they arguably accelerated it. I'm guessing many of Jess Phillips' constituents will duly regard her comments as hypocritical hot air.
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    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
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    Incidentally, Kuenssberg was talking yesterday about Osborne 'hacking back the state' without mentioning we've got a bloody enormous deficit, with interest payments greater than the budgets for Defence or Education. That's a rather significant omission.

    Her tweets were more like "he's got to avoid looking like he's just hacking back the state [indiscriminately]", don't know if she did pieces to air though
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
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    Mr. Rabbit, the bit I quoted was from the news (at ten, I think).
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    The second thing Osborne understands is that the implosion of the Labour Party grants him almost limitless political license. He could stand up and announce that the police service was being abolished, a 100 per cent tax rate was being introduced for everyone earning over £20,000 and that every junior doctor in the country was being sacked, and he would still represent a more attractive proposition to the voters than Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. Labour’s leadership and their groupies can boast all they like about “taking the fight to the Tories”, but the reality is they have handed Osborne and his colleagues carte blanche to do what they like.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/autumn-statement/12015472/George-Osborne-is-getting-the-politics-right-again.html
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    Incidentally, Kuenssberg was talking yesterday about Osborne 'hacking back the state' without mentioning we've got a bloody enormous deficit, with interest payments greater than the budgets for Defence or Education. That's a rather significant omission.

    Typical BBC bias. Did she also omit that Osborne has racked up a record national debt? Or the remarkable flexibility of his deficit targets? (btw -- I do not think interest payments are quite that high, according to the tax summary that has just landed on my doormat.)
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    HHemmeligHHemmelig Posts: 617
    edited November 2015
    Worth also saying that, when all the pundits tell us to expect big things for an up and coming politician, it hangs an albatross round their neck and sets them up as a target for jealous colleagues to gang up on them, and in the end turns out to be the kiss of death for their future prospects.

    Look at "Tatler Tory" Mark Clarke for example, who was tipped to be in Cameron's cabinet, and "Britain's Obama" Chukka Umunna.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    Scott_P said:

    The second thing Osborne understands is that the implosion of the Labour Party grants him almost limitless political license. He could stand up and announce that the police service was being abolished, a 100 per cent tax rate was being introduced for everyone earning over £20,000 and that every junior doctor in the country was being sacked, and he would still represent a more attractive proposition to the voters than Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. Labour’s leadership and their groupies can boast all they like about “taking the fight to the Tories”, but the reality is they have handed Osborne and his colleagues carte blanche to do what they like.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/autumn-statement/12015472/George-Osborne-is-getting-the-politics-right-again.html
    Maybe we can put Mr Hodges in the undecided column when it comes to the new Labour leadership then? < / sarcasm >
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    Mr. L, the deficit targets point is valid, national debt is not (unless you think he should've, and could've, totally eliminated the deficit in a couple of years and been running hundred billion pound surpluses by this year).
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I still can't believe the double digit polling leads over the weekend. I remain sceptical - but that's way beyond MoE
    Scott_P said:

    The second thing Osborne understands is that the implosion of the Labour Party grants him almost limitless political license. He could stand up and announce that the police service was being abolished, a 100 per cent tax rate was being introduced for everyone earning over £20,000 and that every junior doctor in the country was being sacked, and he would still represent a more attractive proposition to the voters than Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. Labour’s leadership and their groupies can boast all they like about “taking the fight to the Tories”, but the reality is they have handed Osborne and his colleagues carte blanche to do what they like.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/autumn-statement/12015472/George-Osborne-is-getting-the-politics-right-again.html

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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I know nothing about him bar tittle-tattle, but he appears to have been an odious fellow judging by @Sean_F's personal knowledge [when he was a Tory].
    HHemmelig said:

    Worth also saying that, when all the pundits tell us to expect big things for an up and coming politician, it hangs an albatross round their neck and sets them up as a target for jealous colleagues to gang up on them, and in the end turns out to be the kiss of death for their future prospects.

    Look at "Tatler Tory" Mark Clarke for example, who was tipped to be in Cameron's cabinet, and "Britain's Obama" Chukka Umunna.

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    Mr. L, the deficit targets point is valid, national debt is not (unless you think he should've, and could've, totally eliminated the deficit in a couple of years and been running hundred billion pound surpluses by this year).

    No chancellor has reduced the national debt since, erm, Gordon Brown.

    Osborne should look for growth not cuts. US government spending per person is lower than ours as a percentage of GDP but is higher in cash terms, and America is only half-way to being a socialist republic.
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    FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    RobD said:

    Security flaw found with Dell, which is what I'm using. Humbug:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34910649

    Had the OS shifted from XP to Windows 7 a little over a year ago... wondering if that would've removed the piece of software involved. Anyone know? I did search for it (eDellRoot) and found nothing.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. D, part of a BBC report I caught mentioned the Turks warning the Russians they were 'too near' Turkish airspace.

    Ah, fair enough. I have only been reading a few sources online.
    And I suppose you tell your next door neighbours when they're "too near" your property, too...

    Oh dear

    You really trying to equate the two situations?

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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851

    Incidentally, Kuenssberg was talking yesterday about Osborne 'hacking back the state' without mentioning we've got a bloody enormous deficit, with interest payments greater than the budgets for Defence or Education. That's a rather significant omission.

    Typical BBC bias. Did she also omit that Osborne has racked up a record national debt? Or the remarkable flexibility of his deficit targets? (btw -- I do not think interest payments are quite that high, according to the tax summary that has just landed on my doormat.)
    LOL at the idea that any of the media would attack the government from the right. A fair starting point might be that for every person in the UK the government has 25k of debt, and we are borrowing 1,300 more to add to that this year. Even with low interest rates we spend more on debt interest that any other department apart from Health and Welfare.

    But no, it will all be tax credits bleating and NIMBYs opposing the building plans. Again.
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    Mr. L, presumably you're referring to the few years when Brown followed Conservative spending plans, rather than comparing debt or deficit at the start of Brown's tenure in government to the end.

    Growth is obviously lovely, but everyone always wants it. It's not an alternative to actually making difficult decisions. Unlike the fantasies of Corbyn, a government can't only ever take nice measures that don't ever have a negative impact on anyway.
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    HHemmeligHHemmelig Posts: 617
    edited November 2015

    I know nothing about him bar tittle-tattle, but he appears to have been an odious fellow judging by @Sean_F's personal knowledge [when he was a Tory].

    HHemmelig said:

    Worth also saying that, when all the pundits tell us to expect big things for an up and coming politician, it hangs an albatross round their neck and sets them up as a target for jealous colleagues to gang up on them, and in the end turns out to be the kiss of death for their future prospects.

    Look at "Tatler Tory" Mark Clarke for example, who was tipped to be in Cameron's cabinet, and "Britain's Obama" Chukka Umunna.

    Most ruthlessly ambitious young politicos are "odious fellows"....but tipping someone for the top early on does often seem to be the kiss of death whilst those who manage to stay under the radar are more likely to prosper.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    TGOHF said:

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Is she fit to do the job ?

    http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-mp-jess-phillips-lost-9572525

    "Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has revealed that she “lost it” in the Chamber of the House of Commons - after a Tory Minister taunted her for losing a vote on women’s pay.

    Ms Phillips (Lab Yardley) had a blazing row with Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities.

    She said: “When the votes were declared and we lost, I lost it.”"
    Poor voters of Yardley, first they get Labour's "not up to it" Estelle Morris. Then they have a LibDem, only to be replaced by another "not up to it" Labour MP...
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @georgeeaton: McDonnell rules out standing for leadership if Corbyn is removed: "I’ve tried twice, I’m not going to try again”. https://t.co/8cs4ZcSuyC
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
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    Hmm. From Twitter, apparently Merkel's said either the EU refugee quotas work, or there's no Schengen. I suspect her stance is more nuanced, but it would be interesting to see how other nations take that.
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    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Yup, and the new tram line.
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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,187
    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
    I visited it last week - a seriously impressive redevelopment that was done over an operational railway. It was more about connecting the two sides of the city than anything to do with train services.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    HHemmelig said:

    I know nothing about him bar tittle-tattle, but he appears to have been an odious fellow judging by @Sean_F's personal knowledge [when he was a Tory].

    HHemmelig said:

    Worth also saying that, when all the pundits tell us to expect big things for an up and coming politician, it hangs an albatross round their neck and sets them up as a target for jealous colleagues to gang up on them, and in the end turns out to be the kiss of death for their future prospects.

    Look at "Tatler Tory" Mark Clarke for example, who was tipped to be in Cameron's cabinet, and "Britain's Obama" Chukka Umunna.

    Most ruthlessly ambitious young politicos are "odious fellows"....but tipping someone for the top early on does often seem to be the kiss of death whilst those who manage to stay under the radar are more likely to prosper.
    All parties are infected with the same problem, that they tolerate these "Odious fellows" for as long as they get results - with the unwritten understanding that if their odiousness comes out too much they'll probably be thrown under the bus by the party leadership.

    Although quite what the LD Peers thought they were doing bringing Rennard back to life the other week, God only knows.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095

    DavidL said:

    Mike is right that the stunning lack of talent in the PLP, painfully exposed by the last leadership election, means that there are real opportunities for newcomers with ability to be fast tracked to the top. Whether Mr McMahon is that person is harder to say. The jump from the regional to the national stage is a big one.

    But I have little doubt we will have an opportunity to find out. I find the idea that Labour will not win this seat, even in their current embarrassing state, absurd. This is all the more so when the second placed party have been going backwards themselves since May and is fairly evenly split with the Tories. I think he will win by 3-4K in the bye-election and then have a seat for life (subject to boundary changes) or as long as he wants it. As Balls found out having a safe seat is a good first step for the ambitious.

    I actually disagree. I think there are a fair few Labour MPs with talent. The problem is that most of them have no chance of advancement under the current regime because they are in the centre or on the right of the party - Stella Creasy, Gloria del Piero, Wes Streeting, John Woodcock, Dan Jarvis. By contrast, I am struggling to think of any great talent in the Tory ranks beyond the established Cameron, Osborne and Gove. The Tories have a lot of safe hands - Hammond, Fallon, May etc - but very few interesting newcomers.

    Rory Stewart.
    Johnny Mercer.
    Yep. He's an interesting one as well.

    I was talking to a Labourite Corbyn supporter yesterday, and he expressed his contempt for our local MP, Heidi Allen. He said she might be the next Tory Thatcher. Which I thought odd, given her recent actions ...
    It seems that any female Tory MP who speaks her own mind is equated with the next Thatcher by some on the Labour benches.

    Why do they feel so threatened by women?
    Fascinating isn't it, when you scratch the surface of a Lefty, underneath the skin so many of them are misogynists?

    Forty years behind the Tories - and counting.
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    TGOHF said:

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Is she fit to do the job ?

    http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-mp-jess-phillips-lost-9572525

    "Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has revealed that she “lost it” in the Chamber of the House of Commons - after a Tory Minister taunted her for losing a vote on women’s pay.

    Ms Phillips (Lab Yardley) had a blazing row with Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities.

    She said: “When the votes were declared and we lost, I lost it.”"
    Poor voters of Yardley, first they get Labour's "not up to it" Estelle Morris. Then they have a LibDem, only to be replaced by another "not up to it" Labour MP...
    Estelle Morris' predecessor was the Tory David Gilroy Bevan, a very well respected constituency MP with a Brummie accent who was a local estate agent and had spent many years on the council. As you say, the constituency since seems to have been poorly represented.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    The Manchester Evening news is pretty good for following this election.

    They had details of a dispute between labour and UKIP over a huge amount being spent on a massive cinema complex, which UKIP want spent on a science centre instead, in the hope it might help to revitalise the area.

    McMahon came out with the same chippy, defensive 'we can have a cinema if we want to' bullsh8t that has been the hallmark of labour since 2010.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    edited November 2015
    Now that's a sentence - shame we don't dish it out like that.

    Pakistani man convicted of plotting bombing raid on Manchester shopping centre sentenced to 40 years in prison by New York court. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4622815.ece
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    FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    RobD said:

    So yesterday we were told the plane was warned ten times in 5 minutes to leave Turkey's airspace, but now apparently the plane was only in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. I suppose they could have been warning while approaching it, but still that is not what the earlier reports said.

    It would also appear that the Turkish plane/s that shot the Russian jet down violated Syrian airspace to do so.
    Do you have a link for that?

    Non Russian preferably.
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    ... and I think I live in Ladywood which is meant to be the poorest bit ...
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    I see the usual suspects are already howling about cuts before Ossie has even stood up, particularly police.

    It seems to me a police force that can interview daily Mail columnists under caution and investigate multi millionaires over divorce settlements can afford to keep us safe from terrorists.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    And trawl Twitter for offending others. FFS.
    taffys said:

    I see the usual suspects are already howling about cuts before Ossie has even stood up, particularly police.

    It seems to me a police force that can interview daily Mail columnists under caution and investigate multi millionaires over divorce settlements can afford to keep us safe from terrorists.

  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    tlg86 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
    I visited it last week - a seriously impressive redevelopment that was done over an operational railway. It was more about connecting the two sides of the city than anything to do with train services.
    Are Moor St and New St now connected ?
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    edited November 2015
    Oh my word http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12015522/Manhunt-for-Salah-Abdeslam-as-Brussels-reopens-after-Paris-attacks-lockdown-Wednesday-live.html#update-20151125-1021
    The Mayor of the Brussels district of Molenbeek received a list with the names of more than 80 suspected jihadists living in the area just one month before the Paris attacks.

    The New York Times reports that the list included the two brothers who took part in the attacks - Brahim and Salah Abdeslam - as well as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind.
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12015522/Manhunt-for-Salah-Abdeslam-as-Brussels-reopens-after-Paris-attacks-lockdown-Wednesday-live.html#update-20151125-0945
    Jean-Claude Juncker has admitted that Schengen is "comatose" and warned that the euro will collapse without it, wites Matthew Holehouse.

    Speaking in the European parliament in session to mark the Paris attacks, the president of the European Commission responded to parties such as Ukip who argue that Schengen has granted "free movement of jhad". "Please don't get things mixed up. We should not exploit in an absurd manner these tragic events," said Juncker.
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    Pulpstar said:

    tlg86 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
    I visited it last week - a seriously impressive redevelopment that was done over an operational railway. It was more about connecting the two sides of the city than anything to do with train services.
    Are Moor St and New St now connected ?
    Bullring is still in the way, but its a nicer walk.

    Snow Hill is still a shambles.
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    Miss Plato, I think that sort of thing costs the police a lot of public support. When burglary victims find it hard to get their goods back or (in some cases) feel they're not being taken seriously [not to mention other, more serious crimes], but there's always a policeman ready for a speeding motorist or 'offensive' tweeter, it doesn't endear the force to the public.

    It fosters a perception that crimes are pursued based on ease of getting a successful prosecution/punishment, rather than how serious the crime actually is.

    That said, the police do sterling work on anti-terrorism, and the ring-fencing of multiple large departments means those without such fences are subject to ever harsher cuts.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851

    Oh my word http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12015522/Manhunt-for-Salah-Abdeslam-as-Brussels-reopens-after-Paris-attacks-lockdown-Wednesday-live.html#update-20151125-1021

    The Mayor of the Brussels district of Molenbeek received a list with the names of more than 80 suspected jihadists living in the area just one month before the Paris attacks.

    The New York Times reports that the list included the two brothers who took part in the attacks - Brahim and Salah Abdeslam - as well as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind.
    If that's true then someone's dropped the ball big time. The bad people only have to succeed once and all that.

    Although it's also positive that at least we are dealing with people we know about, so the systems in place are identifying suspects and it's simply the case that more resources are needed to monitor them.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I have a great deal of time for our counter-terrorism cops - its a job fraught with real danger and massive fall-out if they get it wrong just once.

    It's the likes of forces who use bleeding stumps to frighten residents or materially damage public confidence with things like only attending even-numbered burglaries et al.

    I saw a headline yesterday that one force is using the retired to catch speeding motorists using radar guns, and that PCC who threatened to clobber everyone speeding on some bit of motorway. It has to stop. When the mostly law abiding feel they're being abused as easy pickings, they'll stop helping.

    Miss Plato, I think that sort of thing costs the police a lot of public support. When burglary victims find it hard to get their goods back or (in some cases) feel they're not being taken seriously [not to mention other, more serious crimes], but there's always a policeman ready for a speeding motorist or 'offensive' tweeter, it doesn't endear the force to the public.

    It fosters a perception that crimes are pursued based on ease of getting a successful prosecution/punishment, rather than how serious the crime actually is.

    That said, the police do sterling work on anti-terrorism, and the ring-fencing of multiple large departments means those without such fences are subject to ever harsher cuts.

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    Warmest year on record sounds bad, but records go back what, 150-200 years? It's like reading about 153 AD and concluding Rome was an empire destined for everlasting peace. Or 69 AD and concluding Rome was an empire destined for everlasting war.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34915448

    Apparently, records (in some detail) go back to about 1850:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record
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    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,287
    Cue for Yeo Heo Heo stuff on Guido.

    https://twitter.com/PA/status/669465120062468097
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Heart of Stone and all that.
    dr_spyn said:

    Cue for Yeo Heo Heo stuff on Guido.

    https://twitter.com/PA/status/669465120062468097

  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903

    Warmest year on record sounds bad, but records go back what, 150-200 years? It's like reading about 153 AD and concluding Rome was an empire destined for everlasting peace. Or 69 AD and concluding Rome was an empire destined for everlasting war.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34915448

    Apparently, records (in some detail) go back to about 1850:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record

    There's no real meaning in a single data point (One year). The trend over the last hundred years has certainly been one of a warming planet though, and the Antarctic ice sheet is certainly increasing in ice and thickness/size.

    I really don't hold any beef in the debate, those are the slightly inconvienient, lightly contradictory facts for both sides with their hobby horses, though.
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    Those behind on GoT: avoid the BBC Entertainment page on the news site. There's a spoiler in a headline.
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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,187

    Pulpstar said:

    tlg86 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
    I visited it last week - a seriously impressive redevelopment that was done over an operational railway. It was more about connecting the two sides of the city than anything to do with train services.
    Are Moor St and New St now connected ?
    Bullring is still in the way, but its a nicer walk.

    Snow Hill is still a shambles.
    They've extended the tramline from Snow Hill to New Street - but it's not open yet.
  • Options
    Mr. Pulpstar, over a century, certainly, but the Earth is billions of years old. Variance in climate is not merely natural, it's inevitable.

    I'm not saying it's impossible that man's activities are having an impact, but that such an impact is unproven and the repeatedly inaccurate forecasting of scientists (as well as the political dimension) does not give me much faith in their zealous self-belief.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    edited November 2015
    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
  • Options
    tlg86 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    tlg86 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Perhaps we could send her to Detriot https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/18/detroit-just-filed-for-bankruptcy-heres-how-it-got-there/

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    Birmingham is dying?

    I walked to work through a quarter full of small businesses, all opening up for the day, getting breakfast at an old school cafe run by a local guy, past another run of small businesses, typically owned by asian families and walked into a small university that's punching well above its weight in both teaching and research.

    Idiotic comment. Idiotic.
    Was the Queen not there a couple of days ago to open half a billion's worth of New St Station redevelopment? Now *there* was a pretty grim place before it was done up.
    Hmm... New Street was a reasonably functional train station so far as I can recall. Not sure what there was or wasn't to do up there :). It'll hardly be a holiday destination even done up.
    I visited it last week - a seriously impressive redevelopment that was done over an operational railway. It was more about connecting the two sides of the city than anything to do with train services.
    Are Moor St and New St now connected ?
    Bullring is still in the way, but its a nicer walk.

    Snow Hill is still a shambles.
    They've extended the tramline from Snow Hill to New Street - but it's not open yet.
    It's soon though, isn't it?

    Tram was sat at the stop at Bull Street the other day.

    CHECKED AND ITS TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @johnpmcdermott: Exclusive: SNP response to the Autumn Statement -- "This is a bad deal for Scotland."
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    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,287
    PONMWAS.

    Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 43s43 seconds ago
    High Court has ruled Education Secretary Nicky Morgan made "error of law" leaving "non-religious world views" out of Religious Studies GCSE
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    dr_spyn said:

    Cue for Yeo Heo Heo stuff on Guido.

    twitter.com/PA/status/669465120062468097

    Ouch, that's going to be a very expensive exercise for Mr Yeo.
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    runnymederunnymede Posts: 2,536
    "This is a bad deal for Scotland."

    How unpredictable!
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    Had the OS shifted from XP to Windows 7 a little over a year ago... wondering if that would've removed the piece of software involved. Anyone know? I did search for it (eDellRoot) and found nothing.

    Do you know how that was done? If it was an upgrade then it's possible that it's still there, but I'm not sure that you even can upgrade from XP to Windows 7. If it was just wiping everything and doing a clean install of Windows 7 then that should have removed all and any unpleasantness left over from the way Dell originally installed it before they sold it to you.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    Judge on Tim Yeo: “unreliable”, “not honest”,”dishonest”, “untruthful”, “untrue” and “unworthy of belief”. He should get off the fence.
  • Options
    dr_spyn said:

    PONMWAS.

    Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 43s43 seconds ago
    High Court has ruled Education Secretary Nicky Morgan made "error of law" leaving "non-religious world views" out of Religious Studies GCSE

    That does sound, on the face of it, absurd. Is someone now going to complain that Spanish has been left out of the French syllabus? Surely the clue to Religious Studies (as opposed to Ethics / Philosophy / Belief systems), is in the name?
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    blackburn63blackburn63 Posts: 4,492
    Ukip 9/4 in some places I made us a 25/1 poke.

    No funds, no members, useless leader, corrupt MEPs etc etc now at the very worst we're going to come really close to overturning a rock solid safe labour seat. There must be an awful lot of racist fruitcakes in Oldham.

    Amazing.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I find it perplexing that this is even an issue. More power to HMG's elbow here.
    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903

    dr_spyn said:

    PONMWAS.

    Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 43s43 seconds ago
    High Court has ruled Education Secretary Nicky Morgan made "error of law" leaving "non-religious world views" out of Religious Studies GCSE

    That does sound, on the face of it, absurd. Is someone now going to complain that Spanish has been left out of the French syllabus? Surely the clue to Religious Studies (as opposed to Ethics / Philosophy / Belief systems), is in the name?
    At my first school we were taught scripture (Christianity) (5-13), second school did Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Might as well stick atheism in there too if you're going to go for the whole religous and non religous spectrum.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    It's like complaining that Creationism isn't included in History syllabus. Bizarre.

    dr_spyn said:

    PONMWAS.

    Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 43s43 seconds ago
    High Court has ruled Education Secretary Nicky Morgan made "error of law" leaving "non-religious world views" out of Religious Studies GCSE

    That does sound, on the face of it, absurd. Is someone now going to complain that Spanish has been left out of the French syllabus? Surely the clue to Religious Studies (as opposed to Ethics / Philosophy / Belief systems), is in the name?
  • Options

    Had the OS shifted from XP to Windows 7 a little over a year ago... wondering if that would've removed the piece of software involved. Anyone know? I did search for it (eDellRoot) and found nothing.

    Do you know how that was done? If it was an upgrade then it's possible that it's still there, but I'm not sure that you even can upgrade from XP to Windows 7. If it was just wiping everything and doing a clean install of Windows 7 then that should have removed all and any unpleasantness left over from the way Dell originally installed it before they sold it to you.

    XP to W7 is a FULL RE-INSTALL..
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    KippleKipple Posts: 17


    Snow Hill is still a shambles.

    Snow Hill is next.

    The new New Street is a far nicer place to wait and catch a train but suffers the same core problem as pre-renovation - it's a size 10 station in a size 10 hole in a city which needs a size 20 station. I suspect we're going to have to wait until the current Bullring is demolished and we can create a combined New Street/Moore Street/Curzon Street to fix it.
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    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,793
    Are things really so bad in the Labour Party that someone nobodies ever heard of and isn't even an MP yet is seriously being considered as Corbyns successor?

    LOL!
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851

    Had the OS shifted from XP to Windows 7 a little over a year ago... wondering if that would've removed the piece of software involved. Anyone know? I did search for it (eDellRoot) and found nothing.

    Do you know how that was done? If it was an upgrade then it's possible that it's still there, but I'm not sure that you even can upgrade from XP to Windows 7. If it was just wiping everything and doing a clean install of Windows 7 then that should have removed all and any unpleasantness left over from the way Dell originally installed it before they sold it to you.
    XP to 7 is a reinstall, as they changed the user account profile structure and added UAC. A local shop doing this would (should!) use a retail W7 install which should be free of all Dell's crap.

    The Dell mess is related to newer PCs shipped from the factory since April of this year.
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/23/dude_youre_getting_pwned/ for loads more information, including a link to test if you have the vulnerability installed on your system.
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    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    A fully staffed 7 day NHS would be lovely.

    I do not think you can achieve a fully staffed 7 day NHS on the cheap.
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    FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    What utter hyperbole and crap.

  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    Alistair said:

    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    A fully staffed 7 day NHS would be lovely.

    I do not think you can achieve a fully staffed 7 day NHS on the cheap.
    We're pouring money in by the bucket load. Even Gordon Brown said they'd had enough.

    There are plenty of places where the NHS can find cost savings. Decent management could implement them.
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    Scott_P said:

    @georgeeaton: McDonnell rules out standing for leadership if Corbyn is removed: "I’ve tried twice, I’m not going to try again”. https://t.co/8cs4ZcSuyC

    Bah. I've gone right off him.
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    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    These day-of-week effects are common overseas: it is not an NHS-specific problem. From the report linked, it is not clear that staffing is the problem, although it might be, or that it is confined to weekends: why are Tuesdays good and Thursdays bad, for instance? It is not clear what Jeremy Hunt's attempts to screw over junior hospital doctors will do to help.

    Politics aside, it is only recently that medicine has started to use science and statistics to identify and solve problems.
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    To quote from the press release:

    "In a second part of the study, the team investigated whether there was a link between birth complications and the recommended consultant staffing levels in labour wards. No association was found between consultant staffing levels and complications such as perinatal death or injuries to the baby during birth."

    On the Today programme the author pointed out that in 90% of stillbirths the baby was dead before labour started, hence due to some other issue than labour ward staffing.

    We may simply be seeing the effect of planned inductions and planned ceaserians taking place during the week rather than at weekends, so a relatively high risk of unplanned interventions at the weekend.

    There is much more to the "weekend effect" than the simplistic conclusion that more medical staff are needed on the weekend.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,851
    Floater said:

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    What utter hyperbole and crap.

    Maybe she wrote "city" but meant "party"..?
  • Options
    GIN1138 said:

    Are things really so bad in the Labour Party that someone nobodies ever heard of and isn't even an MP yet is seriously being considered as Corbyns successor?

    LOL!

    Indeed, but at least there is a betting angle to it – If things really are that bad within Labour, we should expect dozens of more 'clutching as straws' candidates over the coming year(s).
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,969
    edited November 2015
    Mr. Tokyo, I think XP was removed, 7 installed and files (ie personal documents, that sort of thing) transferred. I have checked for the dodgy thingummyjig, both by searching and following the preliminary steps to removal, and it didn't show up through either approach.

    On religion: I think it makes sense to include, even if only briefly, agnosis/atheism. They're both religious positions, after all. I covered them at school (at GCSE).

    Edited extra bit: however, it seems odd to me that it's an 'error of law' and I dislike the seemingly increasing habit of unelected judges determining and, er, judging government policy.
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    This looks very promising:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/970b8e1a-8eda-11e5-a549-b89a1dfede9b.html#axzz3sL8nhgxf

    There must be many more areas of east London where such projects are possible.
  • Options
    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,287
    edited November 2015
    Ladbrokes Politics ‏@LadPolitics 1m1 minute ago
    Based on Ladbrokes' latest odds, here is our prediction for next week's Oldham West & Royton by-election.

    43% Lab, 36% UKIP, 14% Con, 6% LDs.
  • Options
    watford30 said:

    Alistair said:

    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    A fully staffed 7 day NHS would be lovely.

    I do not think you can achieve a fully staffed 7 day NHS on the cheap.
    We're pouring money in by the bucket load. Even Gordon Brown said they'd had enough.

    There are plenty of places where the NHS can find cost savings. Decent management could implement them.
    Sir Humphrey would take that as an invitation to hire more managers. It would be interesting to know how much management costs have changed following various initiatives from the internal market onwards.

    Be wary of politicians asking the wrong questions. Someone will pop up soon with a report showing that green bandages are more expensive than yellow ones, and demand a switch. No-one will ask if they work better, and if so for what conditions and by how much?
  • Options
    Sandpit said:

    Floater said:

    Jess Phillips MP ‏@jessphillips 9 mins9 minutes ago

    Can almost not bear to go in to sneering pit of pmqs and autumn statement, because results make me cry. My city is dying



    Oh please.....

    What utter hyperbole and crap.

    Maybe she wrote "city" but meant "party"..?
    LOL. Wish we still had the 'like' button.
  • Options
    philiphphiliph Posts: 4,704
    edited November 2015

    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    To quote from the press release:

    "In a second part of the study, the team investigated whether there was a link between birth complications and the recommended consultant staffing levels in labour wards. No association was found between consultant staffing levels and complications such as perinatal death or injuries to the baby during birth."

    On the Today programme the author pointed out that in 90% of stillbirths the baby was dead before labour started, hence due to some other issue than labour ward staffing.

    We may simply be seeing the effect of planned inductions and planned ceaserians taking place during the week rather than at weekends, so a relatively high risk of unplanned interventions at the weekend.

    There is much more to the "weekend effect" than the simplistic conclusion that more medical staff are needed on the weekend.
    Indeed there is much more.

    The NHS should be fully functioning seven days a week. Full Stop.

    It may well be the best way of slowing down or reversing privatisation of the NHS or parts of it.

    Where do Drs and Nurses stand on privatisation of health delivery. Is there any chance that the actions they take may be to protect the astronomical earnings they can get from delivering services in the private sector? Massive conflict of interest.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,799

    I know nothing about him bar tittle-tattle, but he appears to have been an odious fellow judging by @Sean_F's personal knowledge [when he was a Tory].

    HHemmelig said:

    Worth also saying that, when all the pundits tell us to expect big things for an up and coming politician, it hangs an albatross round their neck and sets them up as a target for jealous colleagues to gang up on them, and in the end turns out to be the kiss of death for their future prospects.

    Look at "Tatler Tory" Mark Clarke for example, who was tipped to be in Cameron's cabinet, and "Britain's Obama" Chukka Umunna.

    None of the "Tatler Tories" distinguished themselves, apart from Priti Patel.
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    watford30 said:

    Alistair said:

    Sandpit said:

    watford30 said:
    You have to give the government huge credit for running with this. They've identified an issue, confirmed it with academic research and plan to address the problem despite quite vocal criticism from within the NHS itself.

    Does anyone who isn't an NHS employee think it's a bad idea that healthcare should be available on any day when it's required?
    A fully staffed 7 day NHS would be lovely.

    I do not think you can achieve a fully staffed 7 day NHS on the cheap.
    We're pouring money in by the bucket load. Even Gordon Brown said they'd had enough.

    There are plenty of places where the NHS can find cost savings. Decent management could implement them.
    Everyone keeps saying this - good managers would sort this all out. Where are they to come from? In my experience in industry and public sector, good managers are few and far between. There's plenty of people who fancy themselves as a manager but being any good at it is another matter.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,799

    I have a great deal of time for our counter-terrorism cops - its a job fraught with real danger and massive fall-out if they get it wrong just once.

    It's the likes of forces who use bleeding stumps to frighten residents or materially damage public confidence with things like only attending even-numbered burglaries et al.

    I saw a headline yesterday that one force is using the retired to catch speeding motorists using radar guns, and that PCC who threatened to clobber everyone speeding on some bit of motorway. It has to stop. When the mostly law abiding feel they're being abused as easy pickings, they'll stop helping.

    Miss Plato, I think that sort of thing costs the police a lot of public support. When burglary victims find it hard to get their goods back or (in some cases) feel they're not being taken seriously [not to mention other, more serious crimes], but there's always a policeman ready for a speeding motorist or 'offensive' tweeter, it doesn't endear the force to the public.

    It fosters a perception that crimes are pursued based on ease of getting a successful prosecution/punishment, rather than how serious the crime actually is.

    That said, the police do sterling work on anti-terrorism, and the ring-fencing of multiple large departments means those without such fences are subject to ever harsher cuts.

    Generally speaking, I've found Luton police very helpful and efficient.
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    This looks very promising:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/970b8e1a-8eda-11e5-a549-b89a1dfede9b.html#axzz3sL8nhgxf

    There must be many more areas of east London where such projects are possible.

    Is Greenwich in east London (except possibly on Tom Knox's tube maps)? There's already been a great many new flats built in Greenwich (none of them cheap, from what I can see) and soon roads and river crossings will need improvement.
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    Kipple said:



    Snow Hill is still a shambles.

    Snow Hill is next.

    The new New Street is a far nicer place to wait and catch a train but suffers the same core problem as pre-renovation - it's a size 10 station in a size 10 hole in a city which needs a size 20 station. I suspect we're going to have to wait until the current Bullring is demolished and we can create a combined New Street/Moore Street/Curzon Street to fix it.
    HS2 is meant to be coming in to Curzon street, right?
This discussion has been closed.