FlyTheNest

Morning all.

Good morefternoon, all.

Starmer's "big speech" today seems pretty OK.

My parents once got a utility bill which multiplied the amount they actually had to pay a thousand fold.

(tbf the sender saw the funny side of it when they were informed)

From what I've read 'pretty ok' just about covers it. His 'recovery bond' scheme sounds fine in principal but to persuade people to invest their Covid savings it would have to offer an attractive interest rate and ultimately would mainly benefit those who've been able to save and those with spare income to invest. The people it won't help (at least not directly) are those who have the luxury of neither.

Of course that was just one part of his speech and I'm sure he mentioned other means of tackling inequality but as a headline grabber it's pretty underwhelming.

Gah! Randy Newman! What have my poor ears done to deserve such abuse?

I think he's fab.

Good evening.

Sounds like the Home Office don't know their own legislation...

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/ ... 8474908673

Psst! I like a bit of Randy Newman too...can't say I've kept up with him since the 70s mind...

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If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.

LOL as they say...



This is like The Great Escape where they brought all of the dangerous POWs in one place...except that this is all the crap.

Wonder whether all of the people who thought that underneath it all, Andrew Neil really was fair and balanced are looking at this and wondering...

_________________
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.

Mind you one of the chief people from EuroNews is also joining, which is slightly surprising maybe.

Will he stay, though.

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One world, like it or not - John Martyn

Which reminds me, any women?

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One world, like it or not - John Martyn

I caught the end of it on tv and was not inspired.

Just read it though, and it seems much better written down. Maybe he should take a back seat and let Thornberry or EdM deliver the speeches.


https://labourlist.org/2021/02/starmer- ... -up-loans/

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One world, like it or not - John Martyn

This is pretty good re the uni free speech thing...

https://twitter.com/OxSoc/status/1362326514579161091

TL:DR - not black or white despite some wanting to make it so for their own ends.

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If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.

Iain Duncan Smith appointed post-Brexit Britain government adviser

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/westminster-news/iain-duncan-smith-boris-johnson-adviser-7563204


That would be the George Freeman who has just had to apologise for breaking the ministerial code after taking paid work for a PPE company trying to sell their stuff to the NHS, a company set up by 'a former UK government appointee whom Freeman had worked alongside when he was a minister'. Even Eric Pickles (now head of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) put the boot into him after Freeman falsely claimed it was all a mix up and he'd had an apology.


https://www.businessinsider.com/george-freeman-acoba-aerosol-shield-2021-2?r=US&IR=T

Really fills you with confidence doesn't it?

QT panel tonight for anyone interested.

Mark Harper
Nadia Whittome
Layla Moran
Professor Linda Bauld
Peter Borg-Neal

Apparently the partially assimilated bloke at the end runs a bunch of pubs so Harper might have one ally, but he's going to take a kicking from the ladies.

Jesus, never mind the legislation, that video they've produced is crime in itself. Public information films have really gone downhill since their 70's heyday.

Mark Harper steams in and makes a twat of himself straight away. Apparently catching Covid 19 is fine as long as you don't die and he clearly doesn't understand that the more people infected with Covid the more chance of dangerous mutations. Is this ideologically driven willful ignorance or is he just thick?

Layla Moran makes a good liberal case against 'no jab no job' and everyone agrees.

I'm not so sure but she certainly made me think.

Poor Nadia Whittome is having a nightmare but not as much as Gavin Williamson who isn't even there yet is still getting a kicking in this discussion about 'free speech'. If this audience is representative then they're not falling for the Tories attempt to stoke a culture war.

Or to put that more clearly, if this audience is representative of the population then the Tories attempt to stoke a culture war is failing.

Anyway we end on some pointless nonsense about Harry and Meghan and barely anyone seems to care.

QT mini-review. Apologies I missed where it was supposed to be from but weirdly there was a bloke in the virtual audience who was on a couple of weeks ago who just happened to be in favour of lifting lockdown ASAP as he was then. I think he was called 'Dave'.

Mark Harper - Ideologically willfully ignorant or just thick? You decide. Either way being told he was wrong by a professor of public health had no discernible effect. Like that bit in The Simpsons where Bart throws a frisbee and it bounces off Santa's Little Helper's eyes and he doesn't flinch. That's how good Mark Harper was, he reminded me of a very stupid cartoon dog.

Nadia Whittome - Oh dear. While I appreciate that Nadia is only wee and could very well have a splendid career in politics ahead of her tonight will not go down as one of her finest moments. It was like listening to a poorly written algorithm chuntering random sentences from the comments under Guardian articles.

Layla Moran - What can I say? Wonderful as always. Why the Lib Dems chose that flaccid bore Ed Davey over her is utterly beyond me, after Clegg and Swinson you'd have thought they might have put a bit more thought into it but apparently not.

Professor Linda Bauld - Excellent. Laid out the facts and countered some of the nonsense coming from Harper and the next fool.

Peter Borg-Neal - Owns pubs and restaurants (Oakman Inns, I've never heard of them, so Southern I imagine), decided that made him an expert on infectious diseases, had his arse handed to him by professor Bauld and Layla Moran.

I thought I'd seen a member of the audience before. Was Dave the bloke who said that he was an outdoor worker? I was about to comment on his seeming reappearance, but you beat me to it. The royals questioner looked vaguely familiar, too.

The Borg-Neal man was weird (and ill-informed). I've never heard of Oakman Inns here in the Deep South.

Question Time isn't from anywhere in particular anymore, so far as I'm aware. The audience comes from all over the country.

He was the funny looking guy with the toothy grin, and now I think about it you're right, the 'royals questioner' who wasted everyone's time has indeed been on recently.

Looking at the QT location timeline I reckon those two from Harpenden a couple of weeks ago were back tonight in Weymouth.

Scandalous.

I mean I'm no expert on what nonsense you lot have going on down South but I'm fairly sure there's some Hertfordshire/Dorset shenanigans going on there.

Yes - Dave's the right one.

Yes - Oakman Inns, Hertfordshire and upwards to the Midlands, I think, judging from their website. They sound like bloody awful places.

That's the good stuff.