British Politics
Been on holiday for a few weeks, surprised to find no general discussion of British politics so though I'd kick one off.
Tory leadership contest is quickly turning into farce. Trump has backed Boris, which should be reason enough for anyone with half a brain to exclude him.
Of the other candidates Rory Stewart looks the best of the outsiders. Surprised to see Cleverly and Javid not further up the betting, but not sure the Tory membership are ready for a brown PM.
https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/bri...
Regarding the LD leadership contest, Jo Swinson is miles ahead of any other candidate (and indeed any of the Tory lot). Should be a shoe in.
Finally, it's Groundhog Day in Labour - the more serious the anti-Semitism claims get, the more Corbyn's cronies write their own obituary by blaming it on outlandish conspiracy theories - this week, it's apparently the Jewish Embassy's fault...
The point she made was that it was a mistake to fine people for breaking the rules, which is fair enough - we did a lot of dumb and unnecessary things during covid, and fines may have been one of them.
That's how she sees it, but it can be slanted in a bad way by the media (QED), which is a thing senior politicians have to look out for.
Tuition fees up rather than any move in the direction of abolishing them
Yet another lie from Starmer
There isn't a great deal of talent available for the Opposition front bench after the election wipeout. Then again the Government front bench isn't stellar.
Trott is my MP and is somehow shadow education secretary, which illustrates your point. She's a dim lightweight that is also a spineless coward. She's very, very beige and it wouldn't surprise me if she gets a crack at leader at some point, because they're running out of options, and Badenoch is absolutely mental and probably won't last.
Apologies for the Novara link, you'll have to give that one five minutes.
Batshit Badenoch off to a flyer
The new shadow minister of state for Defence is
Spoiler
Badenoch starting her leadership in the manner she intends to continue it - by lying.
Starmer's only there to hold the fort while the Tories get a proper leader (not sure that's Badenoch) to ease the country into its kleptocratic post-democracy phase.
On a scale of 1-10 where do you think Lammy rates these past 24 hours?
Would like to see Mark Francois shadowing Lammy so we could see these two political heavyweights go toe-to-toe and decide unequivocally who the dumbest UK politician is.
OMG if you put both their brains in one walnut, it would still rattle
Guys looks like you have a problem.
I suggest more regulations and taxes
I suggest nationalisation and lots of investment
and not electing blair as labour leader - probably a bit too late for that one
I suggest nationalisation and lots of investment
and not electing blair as labour leader - probably a bit too late for that one
I suggest you look at a country which has broadly your same cultural and economic level, and shares with you deep democratic norms and so on, namely Canada, and ask them how they do it.
Maybe you can't replicate anything but if my cousin is good at something I am terrible at that's where I would start from
It is possibly a tax problem. UK electricity is about half generated by gas-fired power stations (nearly 50% is now generated by renewables), and UK consumer gas prices are below the EU average, but energy taxes allegedly skew towards electricity consumption rather than gas.
I suggest you look at a country which has broadly your same cultural and economic level, and shares with you deep democratic norms and so on, namely Canada, and ask them how they do it.
Large natural resources (both fossil and renewable), relatively modest population. But Canadian energy prices vary by region. The rules and prices are not always necessarily that benign.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bills/...
In the north-west, where the population is scant and dispersed (not worth a big gas pipeline), the electricity is generated by diesel and home heating is by fuel-oil, home energy prices are not seen as all that cheap.
https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analys...
Your bar graph, of course, purported to represent the 'average for industrial users', which is perhaps a whole nother matter.
Large natural resources (both fossil and renewable), relatively modest population. But Canadian energy prices vary by region. The rules and prices are not always necessarily that benign.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bills/...
In the north-west,
Yes in general it's more useful to look at industrial users because of international competition reasons and because usually they are less subsidized than households.
Justin Welby has resigned as the Archbishop of Canterbury after facing scrutiny over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth to authorities.
This needs to be criminal.
Don't know how he got away with this either.
