Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The big message from the Long-Bailey sacking is that Labour is

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited June 2020 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The big message from the Long-Bailey sacking is that Labour is Starmer’s party now

The big political news on most of the front pages is Starmer’s sacking from his shadow cabinet of the former leadership rival Long-Bailey for circulating what could be regarded as an antisemitic article.

Read the full story here


«13456

Comments

  • First ... yet again!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,069
    Well, anyone who thought Keir a bit drippy got a surprise. Clearly a new broom, and antisemitism will not be tolerated.

    Might make for an interesting relationship with the Deputy Leader, RLB's housemate.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 4,199
    There must have been work done on this, but has anyone seen anything on testing affecting the severity of a disease?

    In terms of:
    Say a less deadly strain of a virus also has a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases. A smaller proportion of infected people with this strain therefore get tested. The less deadly strain therefore becomes more prevalent, especially if chains of infection of the more deadly strain are broken by contact tracing.

    I mean you'd perhaps expect to see this effect a bit without any testing, but wouldn't testing and contact tracing multiply it?

    {On the other hand, could there theoretically come a point where too much testing would prevent the effect?}
  • kamskikamski Posts: 4,199
    I see Viber are boycotting Facebook. I've been unhappy with Facebook for a while and recently only use it (and WhatsApp) for messaging, but I'd like to avoid them. Is Viber any good?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    edited June 2020
    kamski said:

    There must have been work done on this, but has anyone seen anything on testing affecting the severity of a disease?

    In terms of:
    Say a less deadly strain of a virus also has a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases. A smaller proportion of infected people with this strain therefore get tested. The less deadly strain therefore becomes more prevalent, especially if chains of infection of the more deadly strain are broken by contact tracing.

    I mean you'd perhaps expect to see this effect a bit without any testing, but wouldn't testing and contact tracing multiply it?

    {On the other hand, could there theoretically come a point where too much testing would prevent the effect?}

    It’s an interesting idea, but we’ve also done an awful lot of virus sequencing. AFAIK, there’s no evidence at all to correlate a particular ‘strain’ of virus with less severe disease.

    Also, the ‘strains’ are very, very similar to each other, with maybe a base or two difference, and so far no one has turned up any strong evidence of differential infectiveness/severity.

    That doesn’t mean it’s not possible; just unlikely on what we know so far.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 4,199
    Nigelb said:

    kamski said:

    There must have been work done on this, but has anyone seen anything on testing affecting the severity of a disease?

    In terms of:
    Say a less deadly strain of a virus also has a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases. A smaller proportion of infected people with this strain therefore get tested. The less deadly strain therefore becomes more prevalent, especially if chains of infection of the more deadly strain are broken by contact tracing.

    I mean you'd perhaps expect to see this effect a bit without any testing, but wouldn't testing and contact tracing multiply it?

    {On the other hand, could there theoretically come a point where too much testing would prevent the effect?}

    It’s an interesting idea, but we’ve also done an awful lot of virus sequencing. AFAIK, there’s no evidence at all to correlate a particular ‘strain’ of virus with less severe disease.

    Also, the ‘strains’ are very, very similar to each other, with maybe a base or two difference, and so far no one has turned up any strong evidence of differential infectiveness/severity.
    I see. I had heard that back in April, especially regarding Germany's apparently lower death rate. But recently there's been a fair bit of speculation about the virus becoming less severe. So I thought I'd add to it!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    Platelet Gene Expression and Function in COVID-19 Patients
    https://ashpublications.org/blood/article/doi/10.1182/blood.2020007214/461106/Platelet-Gene-Expression-and-Function-in-COVID-19
    There is an urgent need to understand the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In particular, thrombotic complications in patients with COVID-19 are common and contribute to organ failure and mortality. Patients with severe COVID-19 present with hemostatic abnormalities that mimic disseminated intravascular coagulopathy associated with sepsis with the major difference being increased risk of thrombosis rather than bleeding. However, whether SARS-CoV-2 infection alters platelet function to contribute to the pathophysiology of COVID-19 remains unknown. In this study, we report altered platelet gene expression and functional responses in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. RNA sequencing demonstrated distinct changes in the gene expression profile of circulating platelets of COVID-19 patients. Pathway analysis revealed differential gene expression changes in pathways associated with protein ubiquitination, antigen presentation and mitochondrial dysfunction. The receptor for SARS-CoV-2 binding, ACE2, was not detected by mRNA or protein in platelets. Surprisingly, mRNA from the SARS-CoV-2 N1 gene was detected in platelets from 2/25 COVID-19 patients, suggesting platelets may take-up SARS-COV-2 mRNA independent of ACE2. Resting platelets from COVID-19 patients had increased P-selectin expression basally and upon activation. Circulating platelet-neutrophil, -monocyte, and -T-cell aggregates were all significantly elevated in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy donors. Furthermore, platelets from COVID-19 patients aggregated faster and showed increased spreading on both fibrinogen and collagen. The increase in platelet activation and aggregation could partially be attributed to increased MAPK pathway activation and thromboxane generation. These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with platelet hyperreactivity which may contribute to COVID-19 pathophysiology.
  • Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    In accurately assessing the greasy pole potential of a politician of any party, I find the AN90 test* to be virtually infallible.

    * The AN90 test refers of course to the first 90 seconds of an interview with the said politician by Andrew Neil, this being the time usually required to totally demolish the particular case being argued.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    Politicians are beginning to realise what @Dura_Ace has been saying for quite some time:

    Warning over plans for new Royal Navy aircraft carriers
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53186611
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    kamski said:

    There must have been work done on this, but has anyone seen anything on testing affecting the severity of a disease?

    In terms of:
    Say a less deadly strain of a virus also has a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases. A smaller proportion of infected people with this strain therefore get tested. The less deadly strain therefore becomes more prevalent, especially if chains of infection of the more deadly strain are broken by contact tracing.

    I mean you'd perhaps expect to see this effect a bit without any testing, but wouldn't testing and contact tracing multiply it?

    {On the other hand, could there theoretically come a point where too much testing would prevent the effect?}

    It’s an interesting idea, but we’ve also done an awful lot of virus sequencing. AFAIK, there’s no evidence at all to correlate a particular ‘strain’ of virus with less severe disease.

    Also, the ‘strains’ are very, very similar to each other, with maybe a base or two difference, and so far no one has turned up any strong evidence of differential infectiveness/severity.
    I see. I had heard that back in April, especially regarding Germany's apparently lower death rate. But recently there's been a fair bit of speculation about the virus becoming less severe. So I thought I'd add to it!
    :smile:
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    I have long been worried that the (relatively) new national police force of Scotland is absolutely riddled with incompetence and “bad eggs”. (Remember the horrific case with the unfortunate car-accident survivors left to slowly die in a ditch beside a major road for several days? That was just the tip of the iceberg.) Nothing particularly Scottish with my assessment: the same can unfortunately be said of most police forces around the planet.

    As with most organisations with fundamentally poor ethos and performance, the core problem was the leadership and in particular the flawed recruitment and HR culture. And the ultimate bosses, the Scottish Government, had clearly decided, probably correctly, that poor policing was too low down the list of priorities to be worth expending capital and energy on.

    I now think they need to reassess their priorities. The policing in Glasgow recently is a national disgrace. The Loyalist Defence League and the National Defence League are fascist front organisations. Nothing more, nothing less. And it is now increasingly clear that they have very, very good friends within Police Scotland. No country can tolerate this situation. The SNP and Green leaderships can now be in zero doubt: they need to act and act now.

    Police Scotland accused of 'letting fascist thugs run wild' at Glasgow protests

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/police-scotland-accused-letting-fascist-22253214.amp
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    In accurately assessing the greasy pole potential of a politician of any party, I find the AN90 test* to be virtually infallible.

    * The AN90 test refers of course to the first 90 seconds of an interview with the said politician by Andrew Neil, this being the time usually required to totally demolish the particular case being argued.
    The awe that some/a lot? of folk have for Andrew Neil is also one of life’s mysteries, at least for me. I just cannot fathom it. He is a mediocre journalist, and an appallingly ineffective and incompetent manager (he pretty much single-handedly destroyed the once valuable Scotsman brand.)

    That Boris Johnson was too terrified to speak with a bog-standard political journalist says everything about The Great Charlatan’s true abilities. He cannot withstand even the mildest scrutiny. A real journalistic talent would rip him a new one.

    The only thing to be said in Neil’s favour is that he is a Paisley Buddy, which always gives anyone a favourable start in my books.

    Now, turning to another wildly overrated, ahem, “journalist” Laura Kuenssberg... OMFG.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Good morning, everyone.

    Let's hope Leicester or Chelsea manage to finish 3rd.

    It's a good move on Long-Bailey.
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    edited June 2020
    Nigelb said:

    Politicians are beginning to realise what @Dura_Ace has been saying for quite some time:

    Warning over plans for new Royal Navy aircraft carriers
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53186611

    Dura Ace is of course a valued PBer, but with the greatest respect, even an intellectually challenged primary school pupil could have seen the problem with Gordon Brown’s daft Aircraft-Carrier-With-No-Aircraft plan. It ain’t rocket science.

    The whole scheme was of course just another bribe in the transactional thinking crippling Scottish Unionist strategy. A Trident billion here, an aircraft billion there. The taxpayer meanwhile is getting royally screwed; not to mention the *proper* armed forces, who are consequently stymied.

    And the mind-boggling thing is that the bribery self-evidently doesn’t even work. Argyll & Bute, West Dunbartonshire, Govan, southern Fife: all still firmly SNP. The Unionist flunkies couldn’t even score with an open goal and no keeper, managing in December to even lose a south Fife seat to the SNP when the SNP didn’t even have a candidate standing. That is taking BritNat incompetence to a whole new level.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/S14000041

    (The NAO “highlighted concerns over missing key elements such as aircraft and support ships.“ Ho ho.)
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 4,861

    HYUFD said:


    The football is played with no crowd, it maybe possible to livestream plays with no audience if venues are indoors particularly

    Football is not being played with no crowd! Premier League and Championship football is. There is more to football than just that!

    Lower league football is not. League One and League Two got terminated prematurely (seeing my League One side relegated harshly) while Leagues below them were marked nul and void. The idea that simply playing behind closed doors is a solution for everyone is farcical - maybe it is for the Premier League and their equivalents, not for everyone else.
    This response is unnecesarily combative. Football is being played with no crowd, just not that much.
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    It's a good move on Long-Bailey.

    Yes, I think we can all agree on that. Irrespective of whether you are Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, SNP, Green, Plaid, DUP or simply an engaged floater, we can all unanimously agree that Starmer played a blinder with the RLB problem yesterday. Ten out of ten Sir Keir, from a applauding, unified audience. Not often we can say that.
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    If we wanted to read Twitter, we’d have surfed over to Twitter, n’est ce pas?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    Couldn't have happened to a nicer ...

    Sorry I can't finish that sentence.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    eristdoof said:

    HYUFD said:


    The football is played with no crowd, it maybe possible to livestream plays with no audience if venues are indoors particularly

    Football is not being played with no crowd! Premier League and Championship football is. There is more to football than just that!

    Lower league football is not. League One and League Two got terminated prematurely (seeing my League One side relegated harshly) while Leagues below them were marked nul and void. The idea that simply playing behind closed doors is a solution for everyone is farcical - maybe it is for the Premier League and their equivalents, not for everyone else.
    This response is unnecesarily combative. Football is being played with no crowd, just not that much.
    It's not combative it matters.

    Cyclefree, I and many others have repeatedly made the point that many people's livelihoods are not viable socially distanced. To be dismissive of this as HYUFD is with an attitude of "football can be played behind closed doors so can theatres etc" is utterly ignorant and dismissive and will if followed through without any support lead to the destruction of people's livelihoods.

    The Premier League is an exception because they make their money so much more from the TV cameras than they do from just people in the stadia. They are more comparable with actors on TV shows filming behind closed doors than they are actors in live theatre normally playing to an audience without a camera.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771
    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 4,861

    eristdoof said:

    HYUFD said:


    The football is played with no crowd, it maybe possible to livestream plays with no audience if venues are indoors particularly

    Football is not being played with no crowd! Premier League and Championship football is. There is more to football than just that!

    Lower league football is not. League One and League Two got terminated prematurely (seeing my League One side relegated harshly) while Leagues below them were marked nul and void. The idea that simply playing behind closed doors is a solution for everyone is farcical - maybe it is for the Premier League and their equivalents, not for everyone else.
    This response is unnecesarily combative. Football is being played with no crowd, just not that much.
    It's not combative it matters.

    Cyclefree, I and many others have repeatedly made the point that many people's livelihoods are not viable socially distanced. To be dismissive of this as HYUFD is with an attitude of "football can be played behind closed doors so can theatres etc" is utterly ignorant and dismissive and will if followed through without any support lead to the destruction of people's livelihoods.

    The Premier League is an exception because they make their money so much more from the TV cameras than they do from just people in the stadia. They are more comparable with actors on TV shows filming behind closed doors than they are actors in live theatre normally playing to an audience without a camera.
    Even if it matters, the original statement was not wrong. You said that it was wrong.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083
    edited June 2020
    Notwithstanding the overly sophisticated graphics, an interesting NY Times article using genetic tracing and other investigations to piece together how internal travel spread Corona quickly across the US during the initial outbreak.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-spread.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880
    Nigelb said:

    Politicians are beginning to realise what @Dura_Ace has been saying for quite some time:

    Warning over plans for new Royal Navy aircraft carriers
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53186611

    The 2021 Pacific cruise (aka CSG21) is going to have to happen in some form no matter what. Sending the planned 2 x T45, 2 x T23, Astute, Tide and Fort V with it is going to leave the cupboard very bare on the home front. The Western Approaches will be defended by Farage in a RIB.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,575
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    In this case, I expect any such effect to be modest indeed.
    More generally you’re probably right.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited June 2020
    eristdoof said:

    eristdoof said:

    HYUFD said:


    The football is played with no crowd, it maybe possible to livestream plays with no audience if venues are indoors particularly

    Football is not being played with no crowd! Premier League and Championship football is. There is more to football than just that!

    Lower league football is not. League One and League Two got terminated prematurely (seeing my League One side relegated harshly) while Leagues below them were marked nul and void. The idea that simply playing behind closed doors is a solution for everyone is farcical - maybe it is for the Premier League and their equivalents, not for everyone else.
    This response is unnecesarily combative. Football is being played with no crowd, just not that much.
    It's not combative it matters.

    Cyclefree, I and many others have repeatedly made the point that many people's livelihoods are not viable socially distanced. To be dismissive of this as HYUFD is with an attitude of "football can be played behind closed doors so can theatres etc" is utterly ignorant and dismissive and will if followed through without any support lead to the destruction of people's livelihoods.

    The Premier League is an exception because they make their money so much more from the TV cameras than they do from just people in the stadia. They are more comparable with actors on TV shows filming behind closed doors than they are actors in live theatre normally playing to an audience without a camera.
    Even if it matters, the original statement was not wrong. You said that it was wrong.
    It was completely wrong as a generality. With my second sentence confirming the specifics.

    Football (in general) is not being played behind closed doors.
    Premier League and Championship football in specific is.

    Suggesting that theatres can follow the example of football means looking at theatres in general and football in general.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165
    The contrast between the condemnation of people going to the beach and people going to Anfield is stratling. I'm thoroughly pissed off this morning. People should kick off if the beaches are closed.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083
    edited June 2020
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    Six months is most unlikely. All fertilisation treatment, IVF etc has ceased during the lockdown, and the incidence of pregnancy accidents particularly amongst the young will have dramatically reduced as did opportunities for casual encounters. I would expect birth rates to fall significantly.

    Plus birth rates generally tend lower during economically difficult times.

    Whether the ‘Bournemouth effect’ of release will send them up above normal levels in 9+ months’ time remains to be seen.
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    I know the uniform opinion on here is that Starmer has played a blinder with RLB but it's less than 24 hours and who knows what the ramifications will be. Maybe he can trample over the Corbynites in the Labour party but there are a fair few of them and I doubt whether they are going to let go without a struggle especially in the current climate where would have been considered radical fantasies of the future are now being openly discussed.

    The other risk I can see for Starmer here is that if eg he sacked RLB but doesn't sack a frontbencher or another member of his team who calls for Churchill's statue etc to come down etc etc, it leaves him open to the charge of double standards or charges it shows he is secretly sympathetic to the statement.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    Thrilled about Keir Starmer's decisive action against the cancerous anti-semitism. It's a brilliant move by him.

    She was completely useless anyway.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. 86, not seen anything but the headline, but if people are congregating in numbers that should be bollocked just as much as the beach numpties.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    IanB2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    Six months is most unlikely. All fertilisation treatment, IVF etc has ceased during the lockdown, and the incidence of pregnancy accidents particularly amongst the young will have dramatically reduced as did opportunities for casual encounters. I would expect birth rates to fall significantly.

    Whether the ‘Bournemouth effect’ of release will send them up above normal levels in 9+ months’ time remains to be seen.
    Interesting suggestion that it could go down rather than up but I do wonder what proportion of births are from accidents from casual encounters? Probably more than IVF would be my guess.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    IanB2 said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
    Instead they put an unsuitable man in charge?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,756
    That is an absolutely brutal front page for Boris Johnson.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083

    IanB2 said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
    Instead they put an unsuitable man in charge?
    He was already there
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,047
    IanB2 said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
    Is the LD leadership election finished finally or ia that a prediction? Morning all.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083
    edited June 2020

    IanB2 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    Six months is most unlikely. All fertilisation treatment, IVF etc has ceased during the lockdown, and the incidence of pregnancy accidents particularly amongst the young will have dramatically reduced as did opportunities for casual encounters. I would expect birth rates to fall significantly.

    Whether the ‘Bournemouth effect’ of release will send them up above normal levels in 9+ months’ time remains to be seen.
    Interesting suggestion that it could go down rather than up but I do wonder what proportion of births are from accidents from casual encounters? Probably more than IVF would be my guess.
    I believe that assisted fertility and accidental pregnancies particularly during teenage account for a good proportion of the birth rate. Take away parties, internet dating, postpone marriages and honeymoons, and close all the hotels as well, and curtail affairs (excepting MPs and Sage members), and I would be astounded if the birth rate goes up.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,756

    IanB2 said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
    Is the LD leadership election finished finally or ia that a prediction? Morning all.
    I think it was a reference to Jo Swinson.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    Sounds like insider knowledge. What have you been up to?
  • SandraMcSandraMc Posts: 582
    Scott_xP said:
    I've been surprised by how little discussion there has been on here and generally on these proposed planning "reforms" which seem to have been a formula for (even greater) corruption in politics regarding planning permission.

  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059

    If we wanted to read Twitter, we’d have surfed over to Twitter, n’est ce pas?

    I don’t mind people posting interesting stuff on here so I don’t have to wade through the toxic shithousery that is Twitter to find such pearls. Others may have a higher tolerance for the place.
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,415
    Nice to see the Liverpool fans being given the same exemption to ignore social distancing rules like BLM protests. Maybe boring old swimming pools should become BLM reds supporters
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Jonathan said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    I foresee births rising quite sharply in six to nine months time.
    Sounds like insider knowledge. What have you been up to?
    I've heard from somewhere (but can't remember where) that the opposite is true.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,756
    edited June 2020
    Overnight, there seem to have been two explosions in Iran, one on the gas grid era Tehran, and the other on their electricity network in Shiraz. The Anadolu (Turkish Government) news agency report is here:

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/massive-explosion-reported-east-of-irans-capital/1890356

    This may just be a pair of tragic accidents. After all, Iran is in a shambles at the moment both through the devastation of Coronavirus, through sanctions, through years of corruption and neglect and because its one effective Government minister was assassinated by the Americans earlier this year.

    However, there was also an attack on an Iranian militias in Iraq last night:

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/13-pro-iran-fighters-held-for-anti-us-rocket-attacks-iraqi-officials-say/

    If it is a coincidence, the timing is to put it mildly unfortunate. The Jerusalem Post has juxtaposed the two and I don’t think they will be alone.

    https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/explosion-reported-near-tehran-report-632864
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    MrEd said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    I know the uniform opinion on here is that Starmer has played a blinder with RLB but it's less than 24 hours and who knows what the ramifications will be. Maybe he can trample over the Corbynites in the Labour party but there are a fair few of them and I doubt whether they are going to let go without a struggle especially in the current climate where would have been considered radical fantasies of the future are now being openly discussed.

    The other risk I can see for Starmer here is that if eg he sacked RLB but doesn't sack a frontbencher or another member of his team who calls for Churchill's statue etc to come down etc etc, it leaves him open to the charge of double standards or charges it shows he is secretly sympathetic to the statement.
    I dont see whats wrong with having different standards on antisemitism and statues morally or even electorally. Many in the Labour party are overly obsessed with Israel and it needs to be made clear to them to stfu. Well done Starmer.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    IanB2 said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    The pressure for a female leader, after two from the Tories not to mention both nationalist parties, massively lowered the bar for women being considered contenders.

    At least Labour didn’t go as far as the LibDems and actually put an unsuitable woman in charge.
    You miss out that she was the best the Corbynists had left as possible leaders after Laura Pidcock (who equally had no chance) lost her seat.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059
    “...he’s gonna be your president...”

    https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1276324083421122560
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    SandraMc said:

    Scott_xP said:
    I've been surprised by how little discussion there has been on here and generally on these proposed planning "reforms" which seem to have been a formula for (even greater) corruption in politics regarding planning permission.

    Could something like this work for big housing developments:

    Government compulsorily purchases land at 2-3x price without planning permission
    Government auctions off same land with planning permission

    That way the existing landowner gets a significant but smaller windfall, but it both raises tax revenue and takes out the corruption from the process.
  • logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,669
    MrEd said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    I know the uniform opinion on here is that Starmer has played a blinder with RLB but it's less than 24 hours and who knows what the ramifications will be. Maybe he can trample over the Corbynites in the Labour party but there are a fair few of them and I doubt whether they are going to let go without a struggle especially in the current climate where would have been considered radical fantasies of the future are now being openly discussed.

    The other risk I can see for Starmer here is that if eg he sacked RLB but doesn't sack a frontbencher or another member of his team who calls for Churchill's statue etc to come down etc etc, it leaves him open to the charge of double standards or charges it shows he is secretly sympathetic to the statement.
    Starmer should support proportional representation, let Momentum form their own party and sink without trace.
    It would likely cause the Tories to split too.
    He won't get a majority anyway but PR would give them extra seats in Scotland and ensure support from the LibDems so he could be our next (coalition) PM.
  • CorrectHorseBatteryCorrectHorseBattery Posts: 21,436
    edited June 2020
    Honestly, if the Corbynites do resign Labour will probably end up going up in the polls and Starmer will look like a better leader. What the public want to see most is Corbynism gone for good.

    The headlines must be causing cries of joy at Labour HQ.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,047

    SandraMc said:

    Scott_xP said:
    I've been surprised by how little discussion there has been on here and generally on these proposed planning "reforms" which seem to have been a formula for (even greater) corruption in politics regarding planning permission.

    Could something like this work for big housing developments:

    Government compulsorily purchases land at 2-3x price without planning permission
    Government auctions off same land with planning permission

    That way the existing landowner gets a significant but smaller windfall, but it both raises tax revenue and takes out the corruption from the process.
    Sounds good to me
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 4,793
    edited June 2020
    I think @Anabobazina was after more information on the hospitalisation and ICU rates of those with "mild" coronavirus in younger demographics and who are far less likely to die?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53181525

    "A study of European children with Covid-19 suggests deaths are extremely rare.

    Only four of 582 children died, two of whom had underlying health conditions.

    Symptoms were generally mild and some who tested positive had no symptoms at all, but about one in 10 children needed intensive care."


    ...

    "More than half of the children studied were admitted to hospital, and 8% needed treatment in intensive care."

    Or, to put it another way, those in younger demographics (children especially) aren't hugely less likely to need hospitalisation or intensive care, but are far more likely to recover with help.

    Which isn't "unaffected" or "zero effect," especially not if the numbers infected ever spike high enough to swamp the NHS (because then we'd be testing what happens to you if you need to be hospitalised but don't get that help)
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739

    Government auctions off same land with planning permission

    That way the existing landowner gets a significant but smaller windfall, but it both raises tax revenue and takes out the corruption from the process.

    It only takes the corruption out of the process if the winning bidder at the auction didn't pay to sit next to the minister 2 days before the bid
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 13,225
    edited June 2020
    Nigelb said:

    Platelet Gene Expression and Function in COVID-19 Patients
    https://ashpublications.org/blood/article/doi/10.1182/blood.2020007214/461106/Platelet-Gene-Expression-and-Function-in-COVID-19
    There is an urgent need to understand the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In particular, thrombotic complications in patients with COVID-19 are common and contribute to organ failure and mortality. Patients with severe COVID-19 present with hemostatic abnormalities that mimic disseminated intravascular coagulopathy associated with sepsis with the major difference being increased risk of thrombosis rather than bleeding. However, whether SARS-CoV-2 infection alters platelet function to contribute to the pathophysiology of COVID-19 remains unknown. In this study, we report altered platelet gene expression and functional responses in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. RNA sequencing demonstrated distinct changes in the gene expression profile of circulating platelets of COVID-19 patients. Pathway analysis revealed differential gene expression changes in pathways associated with protein ubiquitination, antigen presentation and mitochondrial dysfunction. The receptor for SARS-CoV-2 binding, ACE2, was not detected by mRNA or protein in platelets. Surprisingly, mRNA from the SARS-CoV-2 N1 gene was detected in platelets from 2/25 COVID-19 patients, suggesting platelets may take-up SARS-COV-2 mRNA independent of ACE2. Resting platelets from COVID-19 patients had increased P-selectin expression basally and upon activation. Circulating platelet-neutrophil, -monocyte, and -T-cell aggregates were all significantly elevated in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy donors. Furthermore, platelets from COVID-19 patients aggregated faster and showed increased spreading on both fibrinogen and collagen. The increase in platelet activation and aggregation could partially be attributed to increased MAPK pathway activation and thromboxane generation. These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with platelet hyperreactivity which may contribute to COVID-19 pathophysiology.

    Thanks Nigel, that's very interesting.

    When briefly hospitalised with C-19 the other half was given anti-coagulants as a precaution. We were surprised at the time because she is generally exceptionally fit and healthy. This little extract helps explain why the drugs were applied.

    She was fortunate to be treated at The Royal Free Hospital, which has been very much at the front line and offered first class treatment.

  • CorrectHorseBatteryCorrectHorseBattery Posts: 21,436
    edited June 2020

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    Simply, Laura Pidcock lost her seat and she was who Corbyn chose.

    They did a poll and something like 90% of RLB's voters would have swapped to Corbyn if he had stood again. Luckily for us all, Starmer would have still won in a near landslide.

    I don't think people get it, Starmer has a mandate to do whatever he likes, he got a stonking vote in the leadership elections and he is now flexing his muscles. It's not Corbynism again or Blairism again, it's Starmerism.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    Scott_xP said:

    Government auctions off same land with planning permission

    That way the existing landowner gets a significant but smaller windfall, but it both raises tax revenue and takes out the corruption from the process.

    It only takes the corruption out of the process if the winning bidder at the auction didn't pay to sit next to the minister 2 days before the bid
    The auction could be help in public!
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Scott_xP said:
    Once again that's only an issue because Jenrick wasn't fired / resigned.

    As with Cummings Boris's inability / unwillingness to act results in Boris becoming the actual story.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,789
    Reagan won the electoral college 525-13.
  • Genuinely wonder if Johnson has a good chance of being made to resign over some scandal that breaks out
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    eek said:

    Once again that's only an issue because Jenrick wasn't fired / resigned.

    As with Cummings Boris's inability / unwillingness to act results in Boris becoming the actual story.

    https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1276406330392219649
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,756
    edited June 2020

    Reagan won the electoral college 525-13.
    FDR won by 523-8 in 1936. Landon carried two small states, Maine and Vermont.

    Nixon managed 520-17 in 1972, with again only Massachusetts and DC going to McGovern.

    James Monroe was returned unopposed in 1820.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    DougSeal said:

    “...he’s gonna be your president...”

    https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1276324083421122560

    Oh diddums - but you miss out the point a lot of people (60% plus by the looks of it) don't think you are doing a good job.

    In other news https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1276370351308578818
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Scott_xP said:
    RLB has discovered that she actual has no allies and that she is now of no use.
  • The Daily Mail has really taken an interesting turn in this Parliament. They're not pro-Labour by any stretch but they seem to hate the Tory Party, or more specifically, Boris Johnson's version of it.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087

    It's a good move on Long-Bailey.

    Yes, I think we can all agree on that. Irrespective of whether you are Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, SNP, Green, Plaid, DUP or simply an engaged floater, we can all unanimously agree that Starmer played a blinder with the RLB problem yesterday. Ten out of ten Sir Keir, from a applauding, unified audience. Not often we can say that.
    Loving the concept of an "engaged floater".

    Mr Hanky deserves a vote!
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 7,881
    edited June 2020
    I think Reagan won 49 states.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    I see Trump has just filed to have the Affordable Care Act rule unconstitutional last night

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html

    I'm sure taking away people's healthcare will play well for him.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    Alistair said:

    I see Trump has just filed to have the Affordable Care Act rule unconstitutional last night

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html

    I'm sure taking away people's healthcare will play well for him.

    https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1276358276528001024
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087
    edited June 2020
    eek said:

    Scott_xP said:
    Once again that's only an issue because Jenrick wasn't fired / resigned.

    As with Cummings Boris's inability / unwillingness to act results in Boris becoming the actual story.
    There are at least two or three or maybe four official channels available for investigation into Mr Jenrick.

    Time for someone to make a complaint?

    I'm surprised he is still there.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    eek said:

    Scott_xP said:
    RLB has discovered that she actual has no allies and that she is now of no use.
    I think it's also the distant whiff of power. Keir Starmer looks like a serious contender and Labour mean business. The virus has also hastened the scales falling from the public's eyes about Boris Johnson.

    It's one thing to abandon a sinking ship, another to resign just before the launch.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    It took Kinnock a while to rid Labour of Militant and it will take Starmer a while to rid Labour of Momentum but he has at least made a start
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    ydoethur said:

    Reagan won the electoral college 525-13.
    FDR won by 523-8 in 1936. Landon carried two small states, Maine and Vermont.

    Nixon managed 520-17 in 1972, with again only Massachusetts and DC going to McGovern.

    James Monroe was returned unopposed in 1820.
    LBJ beat Goldwater 486 to 52 too
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,789
    HYUFD said:

    It took Kinnock a while to rid Labour of Militant and it will take Starmer a while to rid Labour of Momentum but he has at least made a start

    When will the Tories get rid of their Militant tendency?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709

    HYUFD said:

    It took Kinnock a while to rid Labour of Militant and it will take Starmer a while to rid Labour of Momentum but he has at least made a start

    When will the Tories get rid of their Militant tendency?
    They don't have one, or it left to join the Brexit Party
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Scott_xP said:

    Alistair said:

    I see Trump has just filed to have the Affordable Care Act rule unconstitutional last night

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html

    I'm sure taking away people's healthcare will play well for him.

    https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1276358276528001024
    This is actually just continuation of what was started a while ago. When McCain screwed Trump and voted against ACA repeal (and the GOP saw what going for repeal did to their polling) the GOP chose a new tact. They changed the tax penalty for the individual mandate to zero. When Trump signed that law he then said "we've just repealed Obamacare, not many people know that". His meaning being that a court case would now be started about Obamacare's constitutionality and they get the SC to strike it down on technicalities.

    If the Conservative justices on the SC had any moral consistency they would throw this out saying that if Congress wanted to repeal Obamacare then they should pass a law repealing it.
  • coachcoach Posts: 250
    I'm quite new here and find it interesting, I've never come across a group of people so out of touch with public opinion. Outside of this site I never hear Cummings name mentioned yet so many on here are trying to convince themselves he's an ongoing issue.

    And on the other side I don't suppose 1% of the population knows who Long Bailey is, even less that she's been sacked.

    OK its a political site but plenty on here seem able to convince themselves black is white.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    Scott_xP said:
    Once again that's only an issue because Jenrick wasn't fired / resigned.

    As with Cummings Boris's inability / unwillingness to act results in Boris becoming the actual story.
    There are at least two or three or maybe four official channels available for investigation into Mr Jenrick.

    Time for someone to make a complaint?

    I'm surprised he is still there.
    Starmer so far has pulled his punches. He did the same with Cummings - perhaps more understandable (being an advisor and given the issue) - but in the Jenrick case I would have expected the opposition to have called for a resignation.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,087
    edited June 2020

    SandraMc said:

    Scott_xP said:
    I've been surprised by how little discussion there has been on here and generally on these proposed planning "reforms" which seem to have been a formula for (even greater) corruption in politics regarding planning permission.

    Could something like this work for big housing developments:

    Government compulsorily purchases land at 2-3x price without planning permission
    Government auctions off same land with planning permission

    That way the existing landowner gets a significant but smaller windfall, but it both raises tax revenue and takes out the corruption from the process.
    Interesting - I hadn't seen that.

    What problem is that proposal designed to address?

    I agree that existing CPO powers are extensive, which iirc (not my absolute specialist subject) are quite draconian? See for example how Camden used them in in the late 70s.

    I think there is quite a lot of stuff in the postwar planning legislation which is quite powerful if used.

    My main issue there would be question whether that will address the problem.

  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    The Daily Mail has really taken an interesting turn in this Parliament. They're not pro-Labour by any stretch but they seem to hate the Tory Party, or more specifically, Boris Johnson's version of it.

    The Daily Mail has really taken an interesting turn in this Parliament. They're not pro-Labour by any stretch but they seem to hate the Tory Party, or more specifically, Boris Johnson's version of it.

    The Editor was a remainer.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 4,502
    Scott_xP said:

    Alistair said:

    I see Trump has just filed to have the Affordable Care Act rule unconstitutional last night

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html

    I'm sure taking away people's healthcare will play well for him.

    https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1276358276528001024
    The GOP are disgusting , beneath contempt . This however is a gift to the Democrats , the GOP were punished in the mid terms because of their unhinged obsession with removing Obamacare and to go after that again during a pandemic is astonishing .
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    coach said:

    I'm quite new here and find it interesting, I've never come across a group of people so out of touch with public opinion. Outside of this site I never hear Cummings name mentioned yet so many on here are trying to convince themselves he's an ongoing issue.
    .

    No one mentioned the front page news story for a week, led the news on multiple days?

    Are you sure? Not even once?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,772
    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    It will be interesting to see if the lockdown has any effect on this. Not much sign of that here so far in the maternity wards but maybe still early days.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,287
    edited June 2020
    alex_ said:

    The Daily Mail has really taken an interesting turn in this Parliament. They're not pro-Labour by any stretch but they seem to hate the Tory Party, or more specifically, Boris Johnson's version of it.

    The Daily Mail has really taken an interesting turn in this Parliament. They're not pro-Labour by any stretch but they seem to hate the Tory Party, or more specifically, Boris Johnson's version of it.

    The Editor was a remainer.
    Its rather amusing to think that the rag that is the Mail that uses such terms as outrage fury and anger will find its readers outraged , furious and angry at the stance the rag is taking. lorrallorlaughs!
  • coachcoach Posts: 250
    Alistair said:

    coach said:

    I'm quite new here and find it interesting, I've never come across a group of people so out of touch with public opinion. Outside of this site I never hear Cummings name mentioned yet so many on here are trying to convince themselves he's an ongoing issue.
    .

    No one mentioned the front page news story for a week, led the news on multiple days?

    Are you sure? Not even once?
    At the time Cummings was news, but its fish and chip paper, all the talk now is of beaches.

    Despite people wanting Cummings to be news, he isn't. And the ongoing story will be the economy, which millions are unaware of as they cook bbqs whilst furloughed.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    Even for Korea, this is an astonishing drop in birth rate:

    Childbirths drop 10.4% in April as population decline looms
    http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=291799
    The number of babies born in Korea dropped 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier, in the latest sign underscoring a looming population decline.

    According to Statistics Korea Wednesday, 23,420 babies were born in April, compared with 26,151 in April 2019.

    It marks the lowest number of newborns for any April since the state agency started keeping records in 1981.

    Meanwhile, the number of people who died increased 3.3 percent to 24,628.

    All this indicates that the country is evidently on track this year to reporting its first natural population decline.

    It will be interesting to see if the lockdown has any effect on this. Not much sign of that here so far in the maternity wards but maybe still early days.
    Well I know COVID has been linked with many and varied effects, but shortening gestation periods by several months would be a new one!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709

    eristdoof said:

    HYUFD said:


    The football is played with no crowd, it maybe possible to livestream plays with no audience if venues are indoors particularly

    Football is not being played with no crowd! Premier League and Championship football is. There is more to football than just that!

    Lower league football is not. League One and League Two got terminated prematurely (seeing my League One side relegated harshly) while Leagues below them were marked nul and void. The idea that simply playing behind closed doors is a solution for everyone is farcical - maybe it is for the Premier League and their equivalents, not for everyone else.
    This response is unnecesarily combative. Football is being played with no crowd, just not that much.
    It's not combative it matters.

    Cyclefree, I and many others have repeatedly made the point that many people's livelihoods are not viable socially distanced. To be dismissive of this as HYUFD is with an attitude of "football can be played behind closed doors so can theatres etc" is utterly ignorant and dismissive and will if followed through without any support lead to the destruction of people's livelihoods.

    The Premier League is an exception because they make their money so much more from the TV cameras than they do from just people in the stadia. They are more comparable with actors on TV shows filming behind closed doors than they are actors in live theatre normally playing to an audience without a camera.
    Many theatres are live streaming archive plays e.g. the National Theatre and can stream live performances too without audiences as the Premier League is.

    For smaller theatres and smaller football clubs they have much smaller crowds and audiences so as lockdown eases will be back before the biggest football clubs and theatres anyway and of course can still benefit from furlough until October
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083

    MrEd said:

    Politics can indeed prove to be a cruel business. From having once been the favourite to succeed Corbyn as Leader of H.M. Opposition, Ms Long-Bailey now finds herself a few months later as just a bog-standard Labour backbencher with decidedly limited future career prospects.

    It was always a mystery to me how Long-Bailey was ever FAV.

    Usually you can see why politicians climb to the top, or near to the top, of the slippery pole. For example, Gove and Raab are slimy and repugnant stools, but I can just about understand why a Tory backbencher or member might vote for them. For a slimy, repugnant party, the qualities of slime and repugnance are both strong positives, so in that sense they might buy what they see on the tin. But Long-Bailey is just a total mystery to me. I just cannot see her USP to the Labour selectorate, let alone to the wider Labour-sympathetic bloke on the omnibus.

    She comes over as a total vacuum. My only way of starting to even conceive of her as a FAV for leader of HM Opposition was to conclude that if she was the best the Labour Party has to offer then talent within the party had been so hollowed out that the organisation was firmly set for terminal decline. But luckily for Labour, they had Starmer. He ain’t no superstar, but he’s good enough, and up against The Great Charlatan, good enough is simply outstanding.

    Labour are very, very lucky.

    Now, turning to Richard Leonard... OMFG.
    I know the uniform opinion on here is that Starmer has played a blinder with RLB but it's less than 24 hours and who knows what the ramifications will be. Maybe he can trample over the Corbynites in the Labour party but there are a fair few of them and I doubt whether they are going to let go without a struggle especially in the current climate where would have been considered radical fantasies of the future are now being openly discussed.

    The other risk I can see for Starmer here is that if eg he sacked RLB but doesn't sack a frontbencher or another member of his team who calls for Churchill's statue etc to come down etc etc, it leaves him open to the charge of double standards or charges it shows he is secretly sympathetic to the statement.
    Starmer should support proportional representation, let Momentum form their own party and sink without trace.
    It would likely cause the Tories to split too.
    He won't get a majority anyway but PR would give them extra seats in Scotland and ensure support from the LibDems so he could be our next (coalition) PM.
    He'd need to win under the present crooked system first, and when Labour achieves that, suddenly that system doesnt seem so bad.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,880
    Am I the only person who hates the use of staycation to mean holiday in the UK? I am certain when it was first used it meant staying at home and taking day-trips. A holiday in the UK for me is a holiday! Its what I do almost all years.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Scott_xP said:
    That map is a nonsense, West Virginia going blue before Alaska ?!
This discussion has been closed.