On the basis it’s the term in common parlance

So you believe that £22bn is a black hole on the basis that other people have said it is. It’s great to see that you’ve considered this carefully, and haven’t uncritically lapped up something you read.

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Some where between 1 and 22000000000.

So you’re saying that £22bn is a black hole. On what basis?

said nothing of the sort, I’d say that would be a £1 deficit.

So when does it become a black hole?

The unit for measuring a fiscal black hole is the £.

I see. So you’re saying that a £1 deficit could be described as a black hole.

You should work for the Treasury.

It’s not BS. It’s a verified OBR fact

A black hole is a verified unit of measurement?

Having found the 22bn black hole

Even if we accept this assertion (we shouldn’t), context is important. £22bn is about 5% of COVID related public expenditure and less than 2% of annual public expenditure.

Sam Coates very much is part of the “right-wing press”.

I read about a lot of this stuff in Private Eye.

I still note that by objective measures he didn’t hide donations, he declared them

It’s true that the LP did declare a £4m donation from a Cayman Islands hedge fund with investments in arms and fossil fuels. I’m sure it was purely coincidental that the timing allowed Labour to declare it well after the general election.

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FFS – he could cure cancer, create world peace and lift the entire world population out of poverty and some of you would still be “Ah, but….”

Paying for his own stuff would be a start.

While directing the criticism very much at Starmer as an individual, rather than at the government as a whole

Tbf his personal decision making has been questionable at best.

Simmering the pasta with the lid on will result in the starch forming a frothy mess that will burp out of the pan all over the hob

Bring the pasta to a rolling boil. Put the lid on. Turn the heat off.

The water stays hot enough to cook the pasta perfectly well.

I don’t care about the stunt, I really can’t bear to watch him.

Then don’t. It’s entirely optional.

Luckily for you, I stuck around and was able to defend your wish not to be lumped in with the others that you articulated so strongly yesterday.

Great to hear, but rest assured, I can fight my own battles, should the need arise.

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You mustn’t group yourselves like that, Ransos gets really cross.

I thought you’d left?

turn the heater on to clear the misting windscreen

Ok, but I haven’t needed to do that since I first got a car with air con.

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It wasn’t a spat ! As far as I recall I didn’t even argue with Jon

Fair point: he does seem keen to generate one. He has opinions and everything.

Opinions were formed a while ago. You’re just reinforcing them now.

I’m devastated.

Why you wouldn’t want to be on the side of truth and fact I don’t really get, but free choice.

I’m on the side of being entirely indifferent to your spat with Ernie.

I don’t think it’s possible to be a bit inebriated…

Hang on though: if me, Ernie and dazh are seen to be in disagreement, what does this mean?

LOL ! That is exactly what was going through my mind. :)

You quoted me again! You do realise that opinions are going to be formed?

Ransos – noted, frustrating as it’s such a simple question but I’ll put you down as No Comment, and form my own opinion about why not.

Gosh, I’ll just have to find a way to cope. Perhaps you can find someone else to take the bait and play your game of taking sides.

But you don’t need ‘credentials’ to answer the question about whether you think Ernie was being deliberately misleading.

Again, I don’t know and am not going to bother finding out because I don’t care. I really don’t understand why you want me to adjudicate on this matter.

Of course, not calling out clear misdirection could be interpreted as a bit, IDK – partisan

Would it make it easier if I just agreed with whatever you’re on about?

You actually commented on it, about 5 posts later. That must have been hard without following it.

You’ll have to show me. I genuinely have no idea what you’re on about.

Why’s it weird, to want to correct mistakes?

You have already said that I’m an internet random. Why would you solicit my opinion on your exchange with a different internet random? If you don’t think that’s a bit odd, we can agree to disagree.

I can’t even remember what it was about !

Careful now: if we keep quoting each other we might be accused of bullying.

I asked you directly above “how do you see Ernie’s honesty, I just pointed out the inaccuracies, you decide if it was deliberate or not, and if so why would they make stuff up?”

Oh right. I haven’t followed your exchange with Ernie, have no interest in doing so, and believe that he is perfectly capable of speaking for himself. Frankly, it’s a bit weird that you want me to pass judgement, but maybe it’s all part of the pile on you’re imagining.

I also noted I’d declared my experience, you still haven’t.  To me you’re just a random on a bike forum, why would I believe you when your accuracy so far has been off?

I’ve already declared as much as I’m prepared to do on a public forum. I’m politically restricted and it wouldn’t be difficult to work out who I am. I’m not particularly bothered whether you believe me or not and  I’m comfortable that I’ve accurately described my experience.

For avoidance of doubt, I don’t think you have secret meetings and have made a decision to gang up, you’ve just reached that naturally, a bit like a mob. You just can’t help yourselves, can you.

Really, playing the victim card doesn’t suit you. The actual answer is that several people have independently reached similar conclusions.

are you going to actually address the points, or just divert again?

What points? I’ve set out what I believe to be the case, and you don’t accept it. There’s little more to be said on the matter. Not that it’s stopping you, despite claiming you would do so several times.

Of course not, but you’re all very quick to pile on over the same things. It’s you lot being derisory and borderline abusive, look at yourself before criticising others.

“You’re all”. “You lot”. There you go again. Can’t help yourself, can you? I suppose it’s only to be expected from someone evidently incapable of leaving the thread as they claimed they would do, how many times was it?

Your words not mine

Well, obviously. You used the quote function.

So you say. Yet the links I provide explain how it works, whereas your ‘mistake with an abbreviation’ and previous less than accurate explanation doesn’t make me think your experience is reliable. Simple as that.

No, your link tells me what is written down. I think I’ll stick with what I see happening rather than you quoting from a policy, which rather leads me to believe that you have no relevant experience at all

Pointing out where people are making stuff up to suit their own version is pathetic?

“Your pals” is pathetic. Do you think that people with whom you disagree all got together at an AGM or something? Grow up.

Make shit up, I’ll point it out.

Believing yourself to be an arbiter of truth just makes you look arrogant.

What’s an NGDB? Do you mean a NDPB

You are correcting me ‘from your experience’ on how they work and don’t even get the acronym right? Hmmm……..

I described how things work in the real world, based on recent personal experience dealing with central government. You pick up on a mistake with an abbreviation. Hmm indeed.

I can’t say; are you and your pals

You do realise how pathetic that sounds?

But I’ll correct factual errors where I see them.

Likewise: your explanation of how NGDBs make decisions, for example

because its seems there’s a lot of people in this thread know exactly what it is that politicians should be doing but who don’t seem interested in actually doing it themselves?

I hadn’t realised that we needed to stand for election to know that we should buy our own suits.

Easter is a fabulous week to go, especially if you have young kids but this year it falls late.

Yeah we went to Samoens last year, kids were complete beginners so quiet slopes and warmer weather was ideal.

It’s been a while

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There’s some desperate straw clutching going on here.

Are you not entertained by the mental gymnastics?

Which they’re doing now,

Having belatedly conceded that “within the rules” doesn’t make it ok.

Good analogy, well apart from those who were made to pay back expenses and either resigned or were not selected at the next election, and of course, the expenses was taxpayers money, with a lot of clear fraud being treated with kid gloves.

Good comeback, apart from me saying “vast majority” and not “all”.

Anyway, the solution was given up thread: buy your own stuff.

Pretty sure all i’ve read from watchdogs and parliamentary bodies is that no rules have been broken.

As was the case for the vast majority of MPs in the expenses scandal.