Tuesday 11th March 2025

[refitman]

Motning all.

[refitman]

Evergreen 'fuck Wes Streeting, Dawn Foster was right'

[refitman]

Things are going great for Tesla, why do you ask?

[Frog222]

Things are going great for Tesla, why do you ask?

Trumpy buying a Tesla with his own money is the first joke of the day

10Y chart os the stock price ...

https://tradingeconomics.com/tsla:us

[Frog222]

The article at foot of page -- on The Farage Saga --

[Frog222]

Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, was citied as a potential replacement for Farage as leader of Reform by the billionaire Elon Musk, who had voiced support for Reform but later posted that Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” – linked to the leader’s refusal to back the case of the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that sources close to Musk said the billionaire owner of Tesla may be persuaded to fund a splinter party on the right with a hardline stance on mass deportations, which Lowe has promoted.

In a YouTube interview with the rightwing commentator Dan Wootton, Lowe left open the possibility of him joining the Conservatives or Ukip but said he had not taken any decisions about his future.

He suggested he was being forced out of Reform because he posed a threat to Farage, saying that “as in the past, a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... wing-party

[RogerOThornhill]

Regarding Lowe...doesn't bode well for Farage and his chairman...the timing of the accusations was just a little too obvious,

[RogerOThornhill]

Evergreen 'fuck Wes Streeting, Dawn Foster was right'

From what I understand Streeting is rolling back the NHS England quango which Lansley created and bringing the NHS back under the direct control of the department.

If you recall, it was said that the only person who understood the structure was Lansley himself.

[Frog222]

An impact assessment would give granular detail, as opposed to the generalities we are hearing from Labour ?

[Frog222]

Everything and its opposite, typical Trump yesterday on Wall Street .
First two minutes --

[Frog222]

Polly on PR Big Money and the LabourPartei's deathwish

"" A system devised for two parties has become dangerously fragile and unpredictable with four to five parties competing. The smallest voting shift causes seismic shocks.

“A breath of wind can change everything,” Prof Rob Ford tells me. “Just one in 50 voters changing their minds can make the difference between triumph and disaster.”

Between the 2019 and 2024 elections, Labour gained only 1.7% more votes, but that gave it 32% more of the total seats. That same dysfunction could blow Reform into power on a small increase: FPTP now causes fickle precarity, not stability and certainty. With such fine margins, Elon Musk’s millions really may swing an election, says Ford – another good reason to clear big money out of politics at the same time.""

[AnatolyKasparov]

Just on a point of fact, "half the jobs in the NHS" are not being cut at all. Which is why that is an almost horrifically misleading headline.

NHS England - what we are actually talking about - is largely the product of Lansley's reforms a dozen years ago.

Which somehow I don't think many on here were madly enthusiastic about at the time.

[Frog222]

As Roger pointed out, a quango !

[AnatolyKasparov]

But as for one of your posts froggers, that Labour members should not PUBLICLY advocate voting for another party is one of its most basic and non-negotiable rules - and has been enforced pretty strictly under *all* leaderships. Remember the (largely confected) fuss when A Campbell was kicked out?

[Frog222]

Liveblog - markloughran 3 minutes ago

If Starmer is restoring ministerial accountability then more power to him. I remember well the Tories hiding behind quangos such as NHS England in order to absolve themselves from any blame when things went wrong. Not only that, they then tut tutted and spoke of the NHS as a failing organisation as if they had nothing to do with the ludicrous over management and severe underfunding."

[Frog222]

But as for one of your posts froggers, that Labour members should not PUBLICLY advocate voting for another party is one of its most basic and non-negotiable rules - and has been enforced pretty strictly under *all* leaderships. Remember the (largely confected) fuss when A Campbell was kicked out?

That sort of thinking works in a tribal system where you are often born into largely unthinking loyalty to either the Red or the Blue Team . And no other real choice is available .
We are now in a more complex world of say five potential parties, while all that the hitherto 'Labour' party is doing is to ape the Tories' economic policies, brownnosing to Business and Private Equity and other money moguls .
Since Labour is also led by someone with a non-negotiable allegiance to one foreign power and a very authoritarian tendency to kick down wherever he can, it's not surprising that his Party is increasingly reflecting his own personality traits .

[Frog222]

Anyway, temperature now back down to single figures again and a dull wet day , so I'm off out at last to get some fresh air and exercise !

Little Boy spent the afternoon on my bed , waiting for his dinner time , and just came down on the stroke of SixPM to nag me about it .

Tough ! He can have it when I come back

[Frog222]

He was waiting outside .......

Today this morning had on someone senior who knew their stuff on cybersecurity ,

Twitter's protection was "rubbish" , and the Muskrat talked "garbage " --

[Frog222]

[AnatolyKasparov]

But as for one of your posts froggers, that Labour members should not PUBLICLY advocate voting for another party is one of its most basic and non-negotiable rules - and has been enforced pretty strictly under *all* leaderships. Remember the (largely confected) fuss when A Campbell was kicked out?

That sort of thinking works in a tribal system where you are often born into largely unthinking loyalty to either the Red or the Blue Team . And no other real choice is available .
We are now in a more complex world of say five potential parties, while all that the hitherto 'Labour' party is doing is to ape the Tories' economic policies, brownnosing to Business and Private Equity and other money moguls .
Since Labour is also led by someone with a non-negotiable allegiance to one foreign power and a very authoritarian tendency to kick down wherever he can, it's not surprising that his Party is increasingly reflecting his own personality traits .

Firstly, it would be quite surprising if some if not most other significant parties in the UK didn't have a similarly strict rule.

(indeed, I know for a fact that some do)

Secondly, *all* that is being asked for is that party members don't support, or ask for others to vote for, another party IN PUBLIC. Which arguably isn't that much to ask, moreover it is well known that in certain no-hope seats even active Labour members voted *in the privacy of the ballot box* for the LibDems or Greens. There is even one (nameless for now) seat where the Labour membership has at times exceed their vote in Westminster elections

[RogerOThornhill]

Now, this would be funny...

[Sky'sGoneOut]

*all* that is being asked for is that party members don't support, or ask for others to vote for, another party IN PUBLIC.

Presumably apart from in Scotland when Kezia Dugdale openly encouraged people to vote Tory to keep the SNP out 'if they were better placed' yet somehow remained leader of the Scottish Labour party.

Just saying.

[Frog222]

First chuckle of the day