FlyTheNest

Morning all.

OK which of us is going to back down?

OK you win Dan!

My thread opened with:

Vote today for strong and stable government with Theresa May.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... -turn/amp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Donald Trump 'tired of Theresa May's school mistress tone’ and will not hold talks with her at G7"

tinybgoat wrote:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... -turn/amp/
"Donald Trump 'tired of Theresa May's school mistress tone’ and will not hold talks with her at G7"

or hands?

[youtube]NBslXprykHA[/youtube]

Morning all.

Well, this is all going swimmingly...

Boris Johnson calls for more "guts" in Brexit talks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44407771

In the leaked comments, Mr Johnson said the prime minister was "going to go into a phase where we are much more combative with Brussels".

He added: "You've got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK? I don't want anybody to panic during the meltdown. No panic. Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end."
Brexit will be "irreversible" and will happen, Mr Johnson said, but the "risk is that it will not be the one we want".

Irene Sutcliffe
#TogetherForNI
‏


@hotsexmadrigal
22h
22 hours ago


More
Dorries: ‘David Davis has got a two day head-start on you, which is more than he needs. He’s got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. He speaks a dozen languages and knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear and you'll never see him again’.

That escalated quickly...

https://twitter.com/VinnyMcAv/status/10 ... 8298501121

https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/ ... .nlJK001Y6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Revealed: Britain's biggest Local TV company has "gamed" the BBC for hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee payers' money
Former Tory culture minister Ed Vaizey says the government must now "pull the plug" on the failed Local TV initiative, following a BuzzFeed News investigation into That's TV.

I think Jeremy Hunt had a hand in this little wheeze. He's still well in contention for my least favourite Tory, although Iain Duncan Smith was on the radio yesterday and then there's Jacob Rees-Mogg, Chris Grayling, Boris Johnson.....it's a crowded field.

https://www.change.org/p/everyone-allow ... erm=350130" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA wrote:https://www.change.org/p/everyone-allow ... erm=350130

Apparently as a temporary measure Trans-Pennine are introducing two trains so ancient that they are not even wheelchair accessible!

Wheelchair users are advised to travel on different trains

When I was a kid I had a good friend who used a wheelchair. We used to come to Headingley quite a bit to watch the cricket. The only option was to travel in the guard's van, but at least we could travel!

Willow904 wrote:https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/ ... .nlJK001Y6

Revealed: Britain's biggest Local TV company has "gamed" the BBC for hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee payers' money
Former Tory culture minister Ed Vaizey says the government must now "pull the plug" on the failed Local TV initiative, following a BuzzFeed News investigation into That's TV.

I think Jeremy Hunt had a hand in this little wheeze. He's still well in contention for my least favourite Tory, although Iain Duncan Smith was on the radio yesterday and then there's Jacob Rees-Mogg, Chris Grayling, Boris Johnson.....it's a crowded field.

Typical BuzzFeeed, its a Long Read .

More than a hand, 'Unts fingerprints are all over it !

"" The BBC has been paying hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee payers’ money a year to a TV company that produces often unusable local news content and that insiders say was established solely to obtain subsidies from the public broadcaster. (( IE a scam )

The government’s ambitious plan for “Local TV”, introduced in 2011 by then-culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, <b>was supposed to bring forward a new era of local news</b>, with the BBC mandated to hand over financial support for the launch of 30 city-specific TV stations around the UK.

For each story the local stations submitted, the BBC would pay them £147.50 whether it ran them or not, and the companies were set quotas of 85 stories per month for each area.

The money from BBC was used to build a network of TV stations around the country, which were all required to air an hour of local news content each day.""

Pilot studies and monitoring results are so old-fashioned !

One year ago today......

AnatolyKasparov wrote:One year ago today......

Ah that would account for the "On this day" feature in Facebook from a year ago where I just said "Ooh!" at 22:01...

My reaction was actually much the same as for the 2015 exit poll - ie "WTF???". But in a *somewhat* different way

@AK @RoT

Presumably your were bemused by my "strong and stable" reference upthread then?

At 22.01 a year ago I was watching Echo & the Bunnymen and Ian McCulloch was wondering why the audience seemed a bit distracted rather than shouting loudly for an encore

Ah yes, should have realised - too many school emails buzzing back and forth this morning for me to pick that one up.

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:@AK @RoT

Presumably your were bemused by my "strong and stable" reference upthread then?

At 22.01 a year ago I was watching Echo & the Bunnymen and Ian McCulloch was wondering why the audience seemed a bit distracted rather than shouting loudly for an encore

That tweet from Cameron on the eve of the 2015 GE stands up even better, though

Breaking: The pound is falling as the Europe Union’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, gives a thumping thumbs down to the UK’s latest proposal.

Barnier has rejected Theresa May’s proposal that Britain should stay in the customs union until the end of 2021 unless a new customs agreement is agreed once Brexit has occured.

He is telling journalists in Brussels that the backstop cannot apply to the whole UK, but could apply to Northern Ireland.

Barnier also takes issue with the ‘time-limited’ nature of the UK’s offer. He insists that “backstop means backstop”.

Michel Barnier pours cold water on UK Brexit backstop plan

https://www.politico.eu/article/michel- ... stop-plan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Backstop means backstop"

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald- ... -its-huge/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"UNREALITY CHECK
Donald Trump does Brexit — it’s HUGE"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... rket-rules" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"U.K. Mulls Keeping N. Ireland in Single Market Rules"

Prime Minister Theresa May’s officials are considering keeping Northern Ireland aligned with European Union rules after Brexit as a last-resort to avoid a hard border on the island, according to a person familiar with matter.

'continues mulling' ?

Not to worry, Boris Johnson thinks Trump would have sorted everything out

TPR have abandoned plans to use non accessible trains

HindleA wrote:TPR have abandoned plans to use non accessible trains

TPE?

Good anyway

Though that presumably means all of us will still be crammed into trains that are too small

Almost HALF of Universal Credit claimants struggle to pay bills according to DWP's own survey

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:

Almost HALF of Universal Credit claimants struggle to pay bills according to DWP's own survey

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's got one of those contextless statistics at the bottom of the article that I really hate:

But the survey also said there was "evidence of positive employment outcomes" after the proportion in paid work rose from 23% at the start of a claim to 40% eight months in.

But how does that compare with employment outcomes for people on the old style benefits? Without that information, the statistic contributes no relevant point to the issue discussed.

Three local council byelections this week:

East Staffordshire DC - Tory hold with over three quarters of the vote in an exceptionally safe single member ward, the only interest here came in 2003 when an Independent was fairly competitive, but they became the successful Tory candidate in 2007 and in both 2011 and 2015 the Tories beat a lone Labour candidate by close to 4 to 1. This time round Labour's share at least was significantly down as the LibDems stood for the first time this millennium and scored close to 12%, only just behind in third place.

South Oxfordshire DC - LibDem gain from Tory in a ward which had returned two Tories in the first post-boundary change elections in 2015 and by a reasonably comfortable margin, though the LibDems had been competitive in the closest predecessor ward and had at times been elected - so this result was perhaps not a total surprise. In the event the LibDems had a swing of over 22% and a share in the high fifties, whilst Tories fell from nearly half the vote to not much over a third - the winners also benefited from no Green this time and Labour being squeezed in time honoured fashion in these sorts of contests, their share almost halved to not much over 6%.

Mid Devon DC - Tory hold with 45% of the vote in a ward where they returned all three members in 2015, but Independents were very competitive and Labour also polled decently. That was an unusual election here in that the LibDems were not present, they won all 3 seats in 2007 and split the ward in 2003 and 2011 (2C/1LD the first time, the reverse seven years ago) They returned to the electoral fray now with the same candidate who had been the top placed Indy here last time, but he again had to settle for the runners-up spot with just under a third over the vote, meaning that Labour (with yet another 2015 Indy candidate as their standard bearer) were again in third. A curiosity is that both Tories and Labour were either little changed on last time or actually increased - depending on what vote change method from multi-member elections you use - due to the disappearance of the formerly substantial Independent vote.

Two contests next week, one a three member London division deferred from last month's elections.

If only?

Patrick Wintour
‏@patrickwintour

I give up.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Three local council byelections this week:

East Staffordshire DC - Tory hold with over three quarters of the vote in an exceptionally safe single member ward, the only interest here came in 2003 when an Independent was fairly competitive, but they became the successful Tory candidate in 2007 and in both 2011 and 2015 the Tories beat a lone Labour candidate by close to 4 to 1. This time round Labour's share at least was significantly down as the LibDems stood for the first time this millennium and scored close to 12%, only just behind in third place.

South Oxfordshire DC - LibDem gain from Tory in a ward which had returned two Tories in the first post-boundary change elections in 2015 and by a reasonably comfortable margin, though the LibDems had been competitive in the closest predecessor ward and had at times been elected - so this result was perhaps not a total surprise. In the event the LibDems had a swing of over 22% and a share in the high fifties, whilst Tories fell from nearly half the vote to not much over a third - the winners also benefited from no Green this time and Labour being squeezed in time honoured fashion in these sorts of contests, their share almost halved to not much over 6%.

Mid Devon DC - Tory hold with 45% of the vote in a ward where they returned all three members in 2015, but Independents were very competitive and Labour also polled decently. That was an unusual election here in that the LibDems were not present, they won all 3 seats in 2007 and split the ward in 2003 and 2011 (2C/1LD the first time, the reverse seven years ago) They returned to the electoral fray now with the same candidate who had been the top placed Indy here last time, but he again had to settle for the runners-up spot with just under a third over the vote, meaning that Labour (with yet another 2015 Indy candidate as their standard bearer) were again in third. A curiosity is that both Tories and Labour were either little changed on last time or actually increased - depending on what vote change method from multi-member elections you use - due to the disappearance of the formerly substantial Independent vote.

Two contests next week, one a three member London division deferred from last month's elections.

Thanks and I think I kind of predicted that Tory loss

Just seen what that Wintour tweet refers to

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... p_AppShare" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tory government pays back thousands of severely disabled people whose benefits have been cut

RE SDP

Theresa May to hold Brexit peace summit for feuding cabinet

May, who was en route to the G7 summit in Canada when Johnson’s words were leaked, defended him. “Boris has strong views on Brexit but so do I,” she told Channel 4 News. “If you look at the process of these negotiations – nobody ever said it was going to be easy.” (Guardian - my emphasis)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... hite-paper

[youtube]kFOdkBFzX50[/youtube]

PorFavor wrote:

Theresa May to hold Brexit peace summit for feuding cabinet

May, who was en route to the G7 summit in Canada when Johnson’s words were leaked, defended him. “Boris has strong views on Brexit but so do I,” she told Channel 4 News. “If you look at the process of these negotiations – nobody ever said it was going to be easy.” (Guardian - my emphasis)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... hite-paper

Steve Peers
‏
Verified account

@StevePeers
2h2 hours ago
More Steve Peers Retweeted Sky News
We're stuck in the dullest possible time loop

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