all it takes is is one leaked conversation where Farage really says what we all know he thinks and boom, his political career is over.

What is it that Farage could say that would alienate his supporters? If he himself said the words that his campaigners said – no-one would be surprised and no Reform voter would change their mind.

And you can’t credit the lack of populists in scotland to having PR. That’s a result of the fact that Scottish nationalists are already in power and already doing most of what a populist nationalistic govt would do. There’s a lot more going on in Scotland than simply having PR.

This is complete cobblers. At last TJ and I agree about something!

It also doesn’t explain why the “Scottish phenomenon” has also been seen in Wales, and Northern Ireland, and London, which all have PR.

I’d say at least 2530 out of my 2542 unread are generic company spam, IT satisfaction surveys and Teams notifications.

How did we do?

I think I had a not-great-fish supper last time I was passing through Coldsream.

Crikey, that garden view isn’t too shabby is it?

You’d have to love gardening! Amazing view definitely.

their hobbies are gardening and snooker and so on.

I quite like it when I get a little personal flavour in there, if only because it helps remind you who the hell is who. You can quite often get 20 CVs with identical experience and identical qualifications. If someone has an outside life and can speak interestingly about it, that’s a useful distinguishing feature. Just don’t put down “reading”…and then be unable to name any books you’ve read recently…

This young question-asker on TV is just completely wrong. Grad unemployment isn’t astronomical. It’s total rubbish.

https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/insights-and-analysis/what-did-graduates-do-after-higher

How many in the government are from a business background?

Who cares? Government and business are different.

Poopscoop

Full Member

I had to chuckle when Sunak talked about his girls growing up in the UK…

“As a dad of two daughters…”  🤮 Didn’t like how Starmer allowed himself to get caught up bickering with Sunak though.

Interesting bit of trivia about Starmer, though, don’t know if anyone picked it up: apparently his dad was a toolmaker…?

Why – because in general they are young and enthusiastic and single and go home after a couple of years – wheras non EU migrants settle here and bring families.

I am not sure this stereotype actually matches with the reality of EU or non-EU immigration.

International students and their dependants accounted for a further 39% of the increase in non-EU immigration. The UK has an explicit strategy of increasing and diversifying foreign student recruitment, and it is also likely that the reintroduction of post-study work rights post-Brexit made the UK more attractive to international students.

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/

the victims English language skills…..

ffs m8 no need

EU folk are not going to come here without freedom of movement so thats not going to happen either

People have to want to come here first.

There is absolutely no problem with attracting people to come to the UK after Brexit. Immigration (legal and illegal) has grown massively since B Day. If you specifically want EU citizens rather than non-EU citizens…why?

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/

I understand he’s now a prison chaplain and considered a changed man

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/06/jonathan-aitken-paid-for-book-kazakh-autocrat-leak-suggests

Jonathan Aitken’s spots didn’t change.

Can I just point out that both candidates answered a question about this country being an island and neither mentioned the fact that the UK is not an island, and we have a long unguarded border with Ireland…?

tjagain Full Member

How long do you think it should take?

couple of weeks tops.

TJ – have you ever been involved in an asylum application? Have you ever read one? Do you know what has to be proved for an application to be successful?

Edit to add: it’s currently 3 weeks for DVLA to swap paper licences for photocards, which seems a bit (cough) more straightforward.

https://www.gov.uk/exchange-paper-driving-licence

I think high 20’s are what’a usually seen end of august [in Croatia]

You’re looking at low 30s at least. https://www.accuweather.com/en/hr/split/121161/august-weather/121161

OP – maybe look at Baltic beach holidays or Polish or Slovakian mountains – they have some swimming pools that are heated by hot springs, bright sun and not roasting hot. Holland or Belgium camping by the lakes…?

If you are the exception to that – you need to convince me with your CV and then interview.

Poly is the hiring manager whose prejudices you need to overcome. Unfortunately before they get the CVs in a large organisation there is a talent acquisition (HR) person or HR software that is sifting the CVs according to the prejudices they’ve been programmed with.

a 50 year old is far less likey to put up with the things a 20 year old would tolerate

A 20 year old is far more likely to not show up because the vibes aren’t vibing

We can sit around and exchange prejudices all day.

When recruiting it’s been suggested that requiring experience is discriminatory against young candidates!

It’s not that requiring experience is discriminatory. It’s that just saying “you must have 10 years experience” obviously favours people on how long they have been alive and working WITHOUT saying what skills or experience you want them to have. It’s perfectly fine to say “you must have successfully developed and sold a laxative brand”, but not “you must have 10 years of working in the laxatives sector”.

Plenty of issues with asylum seekers in the UK – the fact it takes 2 years or so to ascertain their status

How long do you think it should take?

the people smugglers are breaking the law and deliberately circumventing the processes we have; and also recklessly endangering lives with very unsafe practices.

This is a pretty odd position where you are sympathetic to people coming by any means necessary but the people who are actually the ugly tool for making it happen are criminals and queue jumpers. It’s sympathy for the people arriving but only in the abstract – only if they use Fairtrade approved people smuggling services that pay the London Living Wage with an A rating on Trust Pilot. Of course they break laws and it’s dangerous: the laws are designed to limit people crossing borders! There’s a reason BA and Eurostar won’t take them.

I’d put on free boats or planes for such people

Well, go on then..

The lack of genuine information…

What information do you think the Vietnamese migrants are missing out on? How would you know?

Even if employers aren’t outright prejudiced, some managers may still hesitate or worry that (no offence) “ugh this old guy isn’t going to listen to instructions” or “they won’t do it the new way and will moan about not using a fax machine” or “they won’t do what their 35 yo manager tells them”. You can address some of this in interview but it does require you to get that far.

How long is your CV? The stuff from 20 years ago can be brief eg “1995-2003: various sales positions in the specialist laxatives sector”.

Employers are rude: no rejections, no acknowledgements, no explanations, a lot of form filling again and again to input stuff that’s in your CV. Sorry. Don’t let it trouble you.

Do you have a decent LinkedIn profile? That’s where many people will look once you get past rhe sift.

As for “burger sauce,” who thought a 50:50 emulsion of mayo and ketchup was a good idea?  That’s the rosé wine of condiments, you don’t know if your host likes red or white so you choose pink thus guaranteeing that everyone will dislike it.

I love burger sauce and rosé. It’s even better when it’s fizzy. And sparkling wine is great too!

You could set your watch by my movements

Would it put you off if I made eye contact as I did so?

I think people smuggling in shitty boats is generally a pretty bad thing regardless of your stance on asylum seeking, no?

Not really, no. If you support people making their way to the UK by any means necessary, how can you get on your high horse and criticise those who make those means available?

I’m in the middle of this at the moment. You lot recommending Scotch oats and bloody steak haven’t read the leaflet!

https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/health-information/colonoscopy-diet-advice-and-bowel-preparation/2-days-your-colonoscopy

And as for this:

a well stuffed bacon sandwich with lashings of butter

That’s a recipe for loads of colonoscopies in the future, surely…?

Did the £1m from Ecclestone put my wife and countless other NHS staff at enhanced risk?

This is just whataboutery. Let’s just say it was shitty and bent and shouldn’t have happened, and they gave the money back because that was obvious.

I don’t know how many people tobacco sponsorship persuaded to start or keep smoking, but however many it did – that would have cost the NHS.

He went to a state school, looking like that?

I agree with the poster above that said these snippy comments about the guy’s appearance are hypocritical and corrosive.

But I’m also just as surprised as you are.

Rishi’s PPS just threw his career away for 500 quid. 1% of the annual fees for the school he attended, which clearly didn’t teach him much about maths

Again, he and the other Tory candidate accused (?) of dodgy betting were both state-educated. He went to Welshpool High School, leaving in about 2003. If he didn’t learn much about maths, that’s Labour’s fault…

the implementation of Scottish Government’s anti pavement laws. But I was wrong – it has on the whole worked exceptionally well.

Well, that’s good news and well done to the SNP and the councils that enforce it.

it’s an incredible beast with the 5 cyl 2.4 turbodiesel.  It feels really solid, a great family car and well set up given that they’re about to get married and move to Nairn

I’m sure Volvos are nice but marrying any car just seems excessive tbh

do beans go stale if not used in a certain period of time

You know how organs get packed in a chill box and then transported with a police escort to ensure there’s not a moment’s delay? Well that’s how my Rwandan Robusto gets delivered at six hour intervals to ensure maximum freshness

 I am disappointed that I was recorded at a private event.

I mean, if you can’t trust a roomful of committed Tories, who can you trust?

Defacing stonehenge isn’t really my cup of tea, but neither is tone policing. It’s a big world out there and no-one has a monopoly on “the correct way to raise a concern”.

“Don’t vandalise ancient UNESCO sites” is hardly engaging in respectability politics.

I have very little doubt that Rishi will head for California

Rest is Politics podcast openly talked weeks ago about the rumour that Sunak already booked his kids into a school in California starting in September.

The ferries shambles is Scotland’s own version of the VIP Fast Lane.

Its really not at all.  Its a monumental Eff up but its not open corruption

Matt Hancock bending the rules to chuck lucrative contracts to his political allies is not different to Alex Salmond bending the rules to chuck lucrative contacts to his political allies.

hooked up with some people she vaguely knew and went for a ‘dayer’.

Start as you mean to go on! 😆

That money is not lost to the economy – it churns around.  Its not going abroad.

Brilliant – in that case let’s have everyone in Scotland working for the government on a million quid a year. The money will just “churn around”. Obviously none of it will go abroad because Scotland is in total autarky. “Saving” (ie subsidising) 400 jobs at the cost of £500,000 each is definitely worth it.

Isn’t there a separate thread for those north of the border to have their parochial political spats/arguments about ferries? 😂

I know it’s a novel experience for a provincial Northern monkey like you to play the “parochial” card @binners and I’m sure you must be enjoying that, but Scotland is so far still in the UK. God knows we’ve endured enough wanging on about Ed Daley and various other Lib Dem hobbyhorses like PR on this thread.

Just Stop oil are  just hissing folk off.

Well, they’re determined to play the role of pantomime villain…boo! Hiss!

Someone above said that they’ve got the newspapers frothing and good on them. The problem with that is that getting the newspapers frothing, or getting a hashtag trending, or putting Carbon Awareness Week on your email signature doesn’t actually achieve anything.

The Scottish government doesn’t have a magic money tree. That tree is in a reserved orchard. The only ways the SNP can make up for the money it has wasted is to cut public services and raise taxes.

But if it keeps people busy and it’s something we need, just print more money to pay for it?

(I’m not paying £200 for bananas mind)

How are you going to repay any of that money when everyone’s working in jobs that need massively subsidised?

To be clear, the SNP didn’t intend for the ferries to be hugely expensive but accepted that as the cost of subsidising a failing industry. They stumbled into the massive overspend because they wanted to do a Scottish businessman a favour. Overspending £200m on the ferries (plus another £50m in COVID plus another £3.5m to hire a crew for a ferry that’s never sailed and having them sit on their arsed to do nothing) is not a job creation programme. It’s a job destruction programme because all of that money is squeezed our of people and companies that are profitable.

However inefficient it’s better for the Scottish economy than importing South African coal or a Korean ferry.

No it’s not because the money wasted is a dead loss from the Scottish economy! It’s taxpayer money that could have been better spent on schools or health or making work pay better or freeing up employer’s capital for productive investment. Instead it’s been spunked up the wall on defective ferries that are no good to anyone because they don’t **** work, and it’s a decade on!

You might as well argue that Scotland should produce its own bananas at £200 a bunch (by subsidising the business of the richest man in Scotland who’s personally close to the SNP leader).

In the grand scheme of things a couple of overpriced ferries is what matters to you?

It’s worth giving our friends who aren’t familiar with this story a couple of notes. “Overpriced ferries” is a euphemism for the political scandal in which the SNP intervened to have Scotland’s richest man buy a bankrupt shipyard, and then six months later, the SNP gave that shipyard a £97m public contract to build two ferries. The procurement process was very poorly run and slanted to the shipyard – despite the fact that it hadn’t built any ferries close to the required spec.

The shipyard was failing financially within a year of the contract being awarded. The SNP arranged more sweetheart finance and handouts for the shipyard. And then the SNP nationalised the shipyard in 2019. But the construction was defective and rejected by insurers. The ferries are years late: all this started in 2015 but they won’t be finished until 2025 at the earliest. And the cost has gone from £95 million to £360 million! The SNP minister admitted it would be cheaper to scrap the unfinished boats and just buy new ones – but decided to press on anyway.

And all this massive cost and disruption to Scottish taxpayers instead of just buying the boats on the open market, because dodgy Alex Salmond wanted Scottish ferries for Scottish people made by Scotland’s richest man…

The ferries shambles is Scotland’s own version of the VIP Fast Lane. It was massively wasteful and corrupt in its own right, bit it’s also emblematic of the SNP’s economic nationalism, its disregard for legal and financial standards, its desire to cook things up behind closed doors, its parochial mindset, and worst of all its total failure to actually land any of its grand schemes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_Fiasco_(Scotland)

Le Pen in France got a loan from a Russian bank (now apparently repaid).

Farage was apparently just in the US for speaking opportunities, although Popbitch said he didn’t go down very well. (Somewhere on this thread I have previously said I don’t believe he would be a great draw for US audiences).

Remarkably quickly Farage has returned from the US, reinvigorated his private company, and is now positioned to carve out a niche.

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-marine-le-pen-national-rally-pays-back-russia-loan/

There’s been an effort to paint Nigel Farage as a canny political genius for deciding to abandon his American ambitions after Trump’s conviction and return to the UK instead. The reasons for his change of heart are probably slightly more prosaic though. It seems he came back to familiar political shores because none of the Yanks actually knew who he was.

Farage’s appearance at CPAC this year wasn’t exactly a barnstormer. Attendees said he spent most of his time wandering around aimlessly, surrounded by right wingers who couldn’t give a shit about That Weird Bloke In The Tweed Suit.

One poor Canadian diplomat was driven particularly mad by his constant presence, as Farage kept forcing conversation on him, seemingly as he had nowhere else to go after making his speech at the conference.

In The Shadow Of Mount ****

what’s the justification behind Section 42 of the Gambling Act? It’s perfectly fine when the public are losing money when the odds aren’t in their favour, but it’s illegal and immoral when punters finally manage to gain an advantage?

It applies to gambling operators too. It’s not about the odds being bad or good, it’s about the bet being unfair. You play roulette, you accept the odds being offered. You play roulette but the wheel has been altered to make the ball land on 0 more often, and you’re being cheated.