Friday 1st January 2016

frightful_oik · Post by **frightful_oik** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 8:26 am

Ayup meducks. Happy New Year. Time to give the tories some grief again.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 9:54 am

Morning all.

Happy New Year!

Heading up to Cambridge in a bit for lunch with daughter, brother and his partner.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 10:03 am

Have a great time.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 10:05 am

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... five-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

London rough sleepers double in five years

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 10:16 am

Morning all from Riots Towers. I heartily endorse oiky's message - let's take it to the Tories. My number one political wish is we still have Labour in government in Wales. My number 2 wish is that Sadiq Khan is elected as London Mayor. I think that would be a game changer - wish I was in London so I could vote for him.

Now ... the papers are full of rail stuff - staggering fare rises - Corbyn calling for renationalisation. Here's a story that isn't on the front pages but I wish it was - shows just how hard the fight will be on key policies when the power and money is so inbuilt for those whose interests are threatened by any change.

Train operators agree new rules on communication after 'political bias' row
Department for Transport draws up guidelines with Rail Delivery Group after complaints from Labour over promoting privatisation
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... The RDG was set up as a cross-industry alliance of train operators and Network Rail in 2011 to find ways of making the railways run more efficiently. But it has become the main lobbying voice against public ownership of rail services – a key Labour commitment since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader.

Philip Rutnam, the DfT’s permanent secretary, intervened after Lilian Greenwood, the shadow transport secretary, raised concerns over the RDG’s use of public funding to promote rail privatisation. Half the RDG’s costs are now met by Network Rail, a publicly owned and funded body. Network Rail’s contributions were ratcheted up to £1.3m in 2014-15 from £240,000 the year before, to allow the group to take charge of drawing up and communicating policy for the entire rail industry – which included a series of emails to journalists arguing that Britain’s railways had prospered since privatisation in 1994...

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 10:50 am

Happy New Year everyone. xx

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 11:38 am

http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/31/girl-asks ... gn=Twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Girl asks internet to remove ‘that disabled thing’ from selfie – internet responds brilliantly

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 11:46 am

HindleA wrote:http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/31/girl-asks ... gn=Twitter

Girl asks internet to remove ‘that disabled thing’ from selfie – internet responds brilliantly

So disabled people are ignorant morons too ? Crock of shit imo.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 12:27 pm

“For me, there are no new year’s resolutions, just the resolve to continue delivering what we promised in our manifesto,” said the prime minister, naming low home ownership, poverty, poor social mobility and extremism as his four priorities in 2016. "

Cameron's NY massage.

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 12:53 pm

@HindleA

There's the rub?

Vordy · Post by **Vordy** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:04 pm

Happy New Year to one and all.Lets hope its a good one,without any fear.As John Lennon once sang in Imagine.Below is another article on Propaganda.The Big Lie.

http://gadfly.igc.org/politics/lies/biglie.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:14 pm

Everyone still with us? Everyone okay, then? Sound off if you need help. Loudly, repeatedly.
My spouse returned home during a lull in the storms and I'm grateful he's safe.
Happy New Year.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:41 pm

Son and granddaughter are a bit angry this morning. Neighbours were letting off fireworks non-stop from 7-11 yesterday evening.

This morning all the cars that were parked up last night, are covered in spent gunpowder and bits of firework wrapping, plus left over rockets.

We've never found that before, even on Nov 5th. But then in twelve years we've never had 4 solid hours of fireworks going off right behind our place.

Edited to add. A few months ago, granddaughter treated herself to a brand new Mini and is still in love with it.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:45 pm

Massive fire at Dubai skyscraper interrupts New Year's Eve fireworks

“I couldn’t believe how fast it actually happened. And you know what?
There was actually no fire alarm. I could hear no fire alarm going off.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/d ... -fireworks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

: dubai hotel fire.jpg (69.64 KiB) Viewed 7338 times

What a surreal image
Dubai is a surreal place
Contemporary cities created, completed within a short period of time out of
empty expanses remind me of places in Margaret Atwood's, Oryx and Crake.
The people living and working there are real.
No one was killed, according to the article.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:50 pm

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/j ... able-homes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

London flats costing up to £1m outsell more affordable homes
Thousands more expensive flats sold in 2015 than those costing around £300,000, despite fears for first-time buyers

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:52 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
HindleA wrote:“For me, there are no new year’s resolutions, just the resolve to continue delivering what we promised in our manifesto,” said the prime minister, naming low home ownership, poverty, poor social mobility and extremism as his four priorities in 2016. "

Cameron's NY massage.
Makes a difference from War, Famine, Conquest and Death.

Is it different?

I'm happy to hear your voice, RobertSnozers. I miss you when you're away.
I think I've heard read you somewhere else and welcome your writing there too.

Where's the comma supposed to go, please?

mbc1955 · Post by **mbc1955** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:54 pm

HindleA wrote:“For me, there are no new year’s resolutions, just the resolve to continue delivering what we promised in our manifesto,” said the prime minister, naming low home ownership, poverty, poor social mobility and extremism as his four priorities in 2016. "

Cameron's NY massage.

And he's going to make it his business to see that there's far more of it in 2016.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:57 pm

HindleA wrote:“For me, there are no new year’s resolutions, just the resolve to continue delivering what we promised in our manifesto,” said the prime minister, naming low home ownership, poverty, poor social mobility and extremism as his four priorities in 2016. "

Cameron's NY massage.

Dang. He's not in New York. If any place can subdue him and his party, New York is one of them.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 1:59 pm

I'm happy you're here, mbc1955

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 2:31 pm

The Sun front page today calls for Danczuk to go ... here's the Zelo Street write up.

Simon Danczuk - Time To Go
http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2016/ ... to-go.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... Sonia Rossington, the first Mrs Danczuk, has complained “My God what is he doing, he has a daughter not much younger than the girl he wants to 'spank', and his 18-year-old son has enough problems at university due to sharing the Danczuk name. Why can he not think of his children and the devastating effect his selfish antics have on them? It has been one thing after another after another, will it ever end?”

Meanwhile, Mick Coates, one of the “Rochdale Seven” expelled by the Labour Party in 2009 for expressing disquiet over the incident where Karen Burke, as she then was, was dumped at Alicante airport with no money to get back to the UK, has told Rochdale Online “The Rochdale Labour Party ought to pass a vote of no confidence because they have got to get rid of him now. If they don’t, then they won’t be helping themselves”...

I have wondered about how awful it probably is for his kids. Be a blessing for them if he keeps quiet from now on.

mbc1955 · Post by **mbc1955** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 3:45 pm

Thank you, Citizen. It's a new year, let's see what happens.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 3:50 pm

http://www.conservativehome.com/platfor ... -work.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Matthew Oakley: Five ways to help one million more disabled people into work

"Modernising the welfare state: Finally, with continued pressure on the public finances, more emphasis will continue to be placed on personal responsibility. Personally, I don’t see much more scope to increase conditionality or the role of sanctions. Instead, a bold Government could transform the welfare state to reinvigorate the contributory principle – the idea that families are supported by the contributions they make. "An obvious place to make progress here would be to support individuals or firms to enter income protection schemes"

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 3:52 pm

Hard to grasp the warped thinking behind such misanthropic bullshit,I sincerely hope I am not alone.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 3:58 pm

The reneging of the very basic of a State's responsibility towards citizens and then positing it as some kind of lacking of the sick/disabled.The Government of course has systematically smashed what remains of the contributory principle.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:00 pm

Fascistic intent with a smiling face.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:12 pm

"...reinvigorate the contributory principle – the idea that families are supported by the contributions they make."

We already do. VAT and PAYE form the largest amount of government tax take. It's a regressive tax structure.
Those with the smallest incomes pay the greatest proportion of their income towards tax this way.

"An obvious place to make progress here would be to support individuals or firms to enter income protection schemes"

You what, ConservativeHome?
What the devil is an, 'income protection scheme'?
I thought it's called, 'National Insurance'?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:14 pm

HindleA wrote:Fascistic intent with a smiling face.

Like the smiles of Hannibal Lecter or Jack Torrance.
I just scared myself.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:24 pm

Deleted,just because.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:27 pm

Good morfternoon.

Labour could stop cooperating with Tories in protest at party funding cuts

Party officials consider withholding assistance on parliamentary business unless government scraps plan to slash Short money for opposition parties

Party officials confirmed they would consider halting collusion with the Tories over parliamentary business unless the government considers rowing back on plans to cut “Short money” announced in the autumn statement. (Guardian - my emphasis)

Collusion? Oh, dear. That's a poignant misuse of the English language. Obviously, the Guardian's New Year resolution wasn't to brush up on their English language skills . . . .

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... nding-cuts

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:36 pm

Don't you go all 'poignant' on us PF. That's not the way to start 2016.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:51 pm

John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 4:59 pm

And to counteract that last post linking to the woe is me piece here's John Harris with what I think is a timely and necessary contribution.

When are Labour party ‘moderates’ going to do more than just moan?
John Harris
Until these self-styled keepers of the flame recognise their own failings and accept that Jeremy Corbyn won, tensions in the party will be unresolved
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... emy-corbyn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:02 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).

And what a weird ramble that was. (Not your post, I hasten to add!)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:09 pm

PorFavor wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).

And what a weird ramble that was. (Not your post, I hasten to add!)

Yes - a perfect description of it. And it pretty much makes John Harris's points about self-styled moderates go 'kerching'.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:28 pm

Party officials confirmed they would consider halting collusion with the Tories over parliamentary business
unless the government considers rowing back on plans to cut “Short money” announced in the autumn
statement. (Guardian - my emphasis)

It's been altered.

"Party officials confirmed they would consider halting cooperation with the Tories over parliamentary business
unless the government considers rowing back on plans to cut “Short money” announced in the autumn statement."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... nding-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(my bold)

Insane - collusion or cooperation - for the Guardian to use either of these words describing Labour's response to Tory
policy of halting Short money to opposition parties is insane propaganda.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:37 pm

citizenJA wrote:
Party officials confirmed they would consider halting collusion with the Tories over parliamentary business
unless the government considers rowing back on plans to cut “Short money” announced in the autumn
statement. (Guardian - my emphasis)
It's been altered.
"Party officials confirmed they would consider halting cooperation with the Tories over parliamentary business
unless the government considers rowing back on plans to cut “Short money” announced in the autumn statement."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... nding-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(my bold)

Insane - collusion or cooperation - for the Guardian to use either of these words describing Labour's response to Tory
policy of halting Short money to opposition parties is insane propaganda.

So somebody at the Guardian must have received a dictionary for Christmas!

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:44 pm

Our local CLP newsletter has just arrived. We are invited to a buffet and talk - 'Back To The Future Of Socialism - An Evening With Peter Hain'.

Hmmm - wonder if that's one to go to?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 5:51 pm

PorFavor wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).

And what a weird ramble that was. (Not your post, I hasten to add!)

'Outside of Westminster, we have smaller, and better Gods.'
- Kate Godfry

"A jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in verse, in which the author
bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and
always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall."

- http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/jeremiad

This is really happening. This isn't a story. It should be a story. Please stop me if I start believing
and publishing everything I think.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:04 pm

There's one Labour party and we've all got different ideas, some will work together,
others likely not, it's a political party, not a religion. Everyone be cool. Have a mince
pie. Breathe. Go to the Peter Hain get together if you can make it.

Anyone for coffee? How many cream & sugar?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:09 pm

Very grim - but essential IMO - reading from Joe Halewood.

(Social?) Housing in 2016
What will 2016 bring for social housing? Here are some thoughts of what will begin from April next year which will bring THE most radical changes to the social housing model ever seen.
https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/ ... g-in-2016/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If homelessness has already doubled since Cameron took office ... Halewood's predictions might prove to be horribly accurate.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:19 pm

Brother visiting from Brussels,bemoaning the reaction there,which are having deleterious effect on their daily lives,"self fullfilling hysteria" ever heightening ,practice sessions on what to do if a gun man enters your school,if not shit scared, their children certainly are now.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:29 pm

Neither Mandleson or Blair have a constituency, counsel seat or elected position.
They both may very well be Labour party members. I'm real tired of these two
getting quoted and paid attention to in the press as though they lead the party.
They don't.

"Blair’s latest contribution to the Labour debate was a flatly strange article in the
Spectator, sprinkled with the usual gnomic formulations (eg “true progressives are
always the modernisers”). That piece was followed by a slightly better one by his
former speechwriter and strategist Peter Hyman, now the headteacher of a free
school."

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... emy-corbyn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ooo...sound compelling, both works - real cutting edge stuff.

I've already written my approbation of Tristram Hunt's speech given to the Fabian Society
less than a month ago. It would've been decent to link the speech itself instead of another
Guardian article describing it. Tristram Hunt quotes Corbyn in his speech and I'm satisfied
with his support of the Labour leader and party.

http://www.tristramhunt.com/labours_moral_mission" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:30 pm

HindleA wrote:Brother visiting from Brussels,bemoaning the reaction there,which are having deleterious effect on their daily lives,"self fullfilling hysteria" ever heightening ,practice sessions on what to do if a gun man enters your school,if not shit scared, their children certainly are now.

Fairly soon after the Paris attack we encountered a couple on the beach while out walking our dogs ... the woman had an out of control dog which was running around in an almost demented manner with several little kids getting scared as she ambled towards it with no attempt to reassure people or sort the situation. As she got close to us (we were holding our dogs still until some order was restored) she obviously felt the need to say something ... which was 'just got back from London - terrible, everyone is scared on the streets, scared to go out ...' We didn't respond. (I had just come back from visiting my sister and been walking the streets with a lot of other people seemingly unconcerned).

We tried to avoid meeting this couple again but as we came around a corner to the stepping stones we all have to go over - there they were with the man beating the dog on its back and another couple with dogs screaming at him to stop. The man turned around to threaten and abuse them ...

I'm not quite sure why I'm telling you this in response to your post ... but somehow it reminded me of this deeply unsettling experience. The horrible cycle of fear, aggression, violence and so on.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:36 pm

The hard-headed case for the UK to stay in the EU
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea8a0a6c-a415 ... 4f346.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a subtext suggesting Cameron's renegotiation is a waste of time, as if we didn't know.

a decision to quit would have momentous implications both for Britain and for the rest of the EU. So it would be a serious mistake to allow the argument to turn on the outcome of the renegotiation. Useful though they would be — for the EU as a whole as well as the UK — the reforms sought by London are inconsequential compared with the central choice.

TR'sGhost · Post by **TR'sGhost** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:38 pm

Firstly, a happy new year to all.

rebeccariots2 wrote:
John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).

Who is Kate Godfrey and why should I care what a self-promoting ex-Labour member, who describes herself as 'never successful' and has a huge chip on her shoulder because she really, really really wants to be an MP so should be an MP and will throw teddy out of the pram unless she's somehow made an MP incoherently sulks on the internet about?

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:55 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:And to counteract that last post linking to the woe is me piece here's John Harris with what I think is a timely and necessary contribution.

When are Labour party ‘moderates’ going to do more than just moan?
John Harris
Until these self-styled keepers of the flame recognise their own failings and accept that Jeremy Corbyn won, tensions in the party will be unresolved
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... emy-corbyn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd turn that around. What exactly is Corbyn doing that's so different to previous Labour leaders who, apparently, were useless and basically Tories?

I don't think Corbyn's an extreme leader or anything like that. But I said at the time, I was underwhelmed by his election platform. It was "more tax from people who aren't like you" and a slightly better fiscal policy than Ed Balls. And an eccentric policy that would tear up the successful structure of the Bank.

The main advantage, and it's important, seems to be organizational, as seen in the Oldham West by-election.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:57 pm

TR'sGhost wrote:Firstly, a happy new year to all.

rebeccariots2 wrote:
John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 12m12 minutes ago
"For a new year, clean hands." @KateVotesLabour leaves the Labour Party " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
This is Kate Godfrey - who was disappointed (bit of an understatement there maybe) that she wasn't selected to fight Oldham West. It reads as pretty solipsistic (see PF I can do big words too) - and rather hyperbolic (if she really has begged hundreds of friends not to leave Labour I will take that big word back).
Who is Kate Godfrey and why should I care what a self-promoting ex-Labour member, who describes herself as 'never successful' and has a huge chip on her shoulder because she really, really really wants to be an MP so should be an MP and will throw teddy out of the pram unless she's somehow made an MP incoherently sulks on the internet about?

She wanted to be Stafford's MP. In my opinion, she's behaving unprofessionally and I wouldn't have done it.
No way would I have published that. It can be just as cathartic to write stuff down then torch it, you know?

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 6:58 pm

The DfE- as rude as under Gove.

http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2 ... d-academy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The NUT and Local Schools Network’s analysis is utter rubbish. Obviously local authority schools appear to improve quicker, because their very worst schools are taken out of their control and turned into academies.

Henry Stewart specifically says he's compared schools of similar standard.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 7:01 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:The DfE- as rude as under Gove.

http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2 ... d-academy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The NUT and Local Schools Network’s analysis is utter rubbish. Obviously local authority schools appear to improve quicker, because their very worst schools are taken out of their control and turned into academies.
Henry Stewart specifically says he's compared schools of similar standard.

Dear lordy ... is that a direct quote Tubby? Seriously rude if so.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Fri 01 Jan, 2016 7:10 pm

Apparently so.

Unnamed spokesperson. Could be gobshite non-teaching teacher Robert Peale, I suppose.