David Peckham

'Many of you have also asked, though, about how you can help ‘welcome’ Donald Trump to Windsor when he arrives there tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. So here’s the plan:' I'm just watching Trump's arrival at Stansted. Apparently, he's spending tonight at the US Ambassador's house in Regent's Park. 'The world’s media will be in Windsor to cover the state visit, so showing visually that he is not welcome will send an important message far and wide.' Not really. They're in Essex. Could be a long wait for some quite pissed off people in Windsor. He's not due there until tomorrow.

Camilla's sinuses are playing up again, so she's missing the Duchess of Kent's funeral this afternoon, but plans to 'participate fully' in the Trump visit. Mmm. She wouldn't be looking for an excuse, would she? An afternoon bent over a washing-up bowl of boiling water and Olbus Oil, with a tea towel on your head should clear that up. Maybe a dab of Vicks on your nightie tonight.

Ricky Hatton. Very sad.

Requiring a provisional licence seems like a very simple start to a complex problem, and one which could be implemented by Lime pretty quickly without recourse to be being dragged through a regulatory process. I agree with you about equivalence with motorbikes, but I'm not clear on why the rules differ between Lime e-scooters & Lime bikes - they're both limited to 15.5 mph but one requires a licence, one doesn't. Legally, at the moment riding an e scooter over the limit could result in a similar outcome to driving over the limit, but riding an e bike is a different offence and generally wouldn't. It doesn't seem to add up to me. That makes sense for various reasons, not least basic profitability. Lime (and let's be honest, they're going to be the only ones in the market soon) could hugely improve the perception (and the safety) of e-bikes by keeping a far closer eye on the identity and behaviour of their legitimate users and improving the security of the bikes to cut down on illegitimate use.

My understanding is that you must have, at least, a provisional licence to hire an electric scooter and be over 18. Surely the easiest thing would be to make those the conditions of hiring a Lime bike? They're heavier and, potentially, more dangerous if you're hit by one. Wouldn't that add more accountability? If any Highway Code, or other, infractions (including riding drunk & 'Furious Cycling') resulted in points on your licence and/or a fine, I would think most riders would take more care. You have to be 18 to hire a Lime bike anyway, so it's not a great leap and they must have a parallel system already in place to register licences for e scooters. Seems a pretty simple start.

Christ. When the licence fee is under such scrutiny, this doesn't seem like a great time to spend cash exhuming this pair of swivel-eyed loons, even for comedy value. Spoiler alert: Boudicca Rising (!) left Tony.

Well, I made £50 out of it and Alice owes me another bullseye, so I had a good day Clearly the thread has moved on, but just a final few words on Rayner (from me, at least). If she hadn't gone like this (with a chance to revive her career at some point in the future) there's plenty of other stuff loaded up and ready to be fired at her about the motivation, finances and machinations of her move down South. It's not pretty reading. Tawdry doesn't come close. I was born in Ashton Hospital and grew up in Tameside, I've got a lot of friends and family who weren't as lucky as me and didn't make it out, some close to her constituency party, and there's been a lot of bad feeling around 'Our Ange' for a long time. My favourite quote was: 'She should fuck off back to Stockport.' And that was from a party member. The writing was on the wall for her. Moving from Ashton (majority c6.5k, large Pakistani minority, but predominantly white working class and targeted by both the Independent Alliance and Reform) to Hove (majority c20k, neither of these issues with the electorate) was a pretty cynical move, and she's fucked it royally. 'The Honourable Member for Hove and Portslade' will be sleeping a lot easier in their bed tonight. This thread was never supposed to about Labour bashing, and I'm not sure it is. It's definitely descended into 'Whataboutery', and that seems to be the problem, in my mind at least, with British politics. It's playground stuff, he said/she said, blame-game bollocks. Watch PMQs and ask yourself if you'd accept this sort of behaviour amongst toddlers, let alone in an elected parliament. One thing that does stand out is the opposition to Reform across the board, and yet we seem to be sleepwalking towards a likely scenario where Farage could head up a minority Reform government. I've 'followed' politics since the late Seventies - mainly because the BBC News came on right after 'Roobard and Custard' or 'The Magic Roundabout' - and I can't remember an era where both major parties are so bereft of leadership, direction or ideas. There's a certain irony that we'll all be getting a test text on Sunday to warn us of an impending 'National Emergency'. Seems quite prescient.

They're a supplement, usually made from whey, which are used after weight training. The theory is that weight training tears the muscle fibres (Feel The Burn, No Pain No Gain, etc), protein helps repair this and aid lean muscle growth. The faster you can get protein into your system, the better, so obviously liquids are absorbed faster than solids Beans, poached egg or peanut butter on toast, are pretty typical post training meals to achieve the same thing. They're much like a very thin milkshake or Slim fast, so nothing anabolic. I used them when I was training three or four times a week and the results were pretty good, if I do say so myself. Cross-post with Ianr

So, are Dulwich Roads saying that there is 'a bell bollard to stop drivers going on the pavement and flipping their car over'? Because, that really hasn't worked. I'd say the design needs a little fettling.

That's my mate Richard in the blue T-shirt. Lucky escape there.

She's come in slightly, Reeves has lengthened. Joint favourites at 15-8. ETA Rayner in front by a short head at 7-4. Looks like some fairly questionable stuff is going to come out about where the cash to buy out her share of the trust, which then provided the deposit on the Hove flat, came from. That's on top of the Stamp Duty issue.

That's all a bit complicated, as well. She was voted in as deputy leader, not deputy Prime Minister, by the party. There's no requirement to have a deputy PM, so she could be sacked by Starmer by simply ending the position I'd imagine The housing secretary role is down to appointment by Starmer, so he could kick her out of that. I'm not sure that the housing minister, or any minister in fact, has an automatic right to a seat at cabinet. I think it's the attacks she's made on Tories that are her problem here. Mistakes do get made, but she's given little credence to other's 'mistakes' in the past and called for resignations. Let's just hope the enquiry gets published soon. There are a lot more important things to be getting on with.

I'd change your bookies if you're only getting 5s. She's out to 7s at most places. She's shortened to 2-1 to be next out of the Cabinet now, that's a hell of a shift in a morning. I'm glad I had a tenner at 5-1. I reckon she'll be evens or odds on by lunchtime tomorrow. Reeves is still favourite to leave next at 11-10. Let me know if you fancy £50 on whether she's out or next leader.

Her odds have come in from twelves to 5-1 to be the next Cabinet member to leave. Still worth a little punt, I reckon.

Can Rayner survive this? "Angela Rayner admits underpaying stamp duty on £800,000 seaside flat | Angela Rayner | The Guardian" https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/03/angela-rayner-admits-underpaying-stamp-duty-on-800000-seaside-flat