Spartacus

To be honest, I can't see any politican actually really wanting the job as its got to be a poison chalice. If they are made PM it will be for a maximum of 2 years (Jan 2025) before having to go back to the country to decide who is in charge. That's liable to be a decisive vote to change government unless we go to war in the Falklands again 🤫 Equally the opposition parties will be calling for a GE every week for those two years. The economy, both here and world wide is (technical term) flucked and will take the end of the Ukraine situation to start to improve and whilst there can be tinkering at the edges by whoever is in power, governments will struggle to solve it. As history has shown, parties in charge during a financial crisis aren't viewed well the next general election. The SNP will argue for all that time that the next GE should be a vote of independence so that will be a constant thorn in any leaders side. So back to two years of poisoned chalice, who ever is the next leader of the tories will be there for a maximum of 2 years before being out of power for a minimum of 5 years so potential contenders may well wait till after the next GE to stand up for leader. It wouldn't surprise me that, after the Summer fiasco, Rishi may well bide his time until after the next GE to be leader of the Tories and we could well see a lame horse race to be leader this time around.

Loved this yesterday

Whilst speeding should be enforced, it should be enforced by the police and not local councils who then keep the fine. It encourages councils to treat cars and drivers as cash machines rather then enforcing to stop it happening again. As the council won't be allowed to add penalty points then it's hardly a deterrent as points add up and remove dangerous drivers.

Whilst it's slightly off topic, this is a worrying development BBC News - Speeding drivers to be fined by Wandsworth Council https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-63322848 Anyone convinced that councils don't see drivers as mobile cash machines is delusional in my opinion.

Well I guess The New Chancellor has answered my question. Virtually everything has been reversed including the two year energy support package. The only things that survived are the cut to stamp duty and the NI increase. And I don't they are safe either. Looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride for everyone now and a possible return to austerity to pay for Ukraine and covid. Fingers crossed it helps control inflation.

Run mal Run

Hi Joe Strange one, received a private message and after reading it all previous private messages from the old forum appeared and show up as unread Is there a bulk read option ?

Guessing it's not going to get better anytime soon BBC News - Royal Mail to axe up to 10,000 jobs as losses rise https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63253687

I am curious News media and the markets are today expecting a u-turn on the mini budget the other day. But what exactly are they looking for. The proposed reduction of the 45p rate has already been dropped which leaves 4 main categories 1. Not implementing a rise in corporation tax from 19 to 25% 2. The changes to stamp duty 3. The removal of the IR35 rules 4. The removal of the NI increase to support social care Is it one specific element, a combination or all four? It's not clear from news media what exactly will satisfy everyone at the moment and I suspect that whatever happens there will now be winners and losers (for example cancelling the stamp duty changes will see people who thought they could buy suddenly finding they can't which could crash the market just as easily as rising interest rates) Regardless its going to be interesting to see what happens and what actually calms things down again

I do love a parody account

Rah x3 you really feel like the EDF equivalent of Nicola, constantly banging the car independence drum against most others views. NxR doesn't need pedestrianisation, it operates a market a few days a week when it is closed to all but pedestrians which currently works perfectly Think of the issues traders will have if they can't drive to outside their businesses with heavy goods 7 days a week, far from thriving, it will see some traders closing or moving away.

How will emergency vehicles get through? It seems there's a turning space for them but no through access. Or am I wrong ?

Whilst there are strikes on, I suspect quick resolution won't occur. However I really hope that lessons were learned from last Christmas and the service improves before the busy Christmas rush. My feelings are that, once again, we will still be getting Christmas cards in February.

The bigger question that trading standards need to look at is where they got fireworks from as that breaks two rules 1. From 15 October to 10 November is the legal period at this time of year to sell fireworks (Diwali, New Year and Chinese New Year are other legal periods for sales) 2. Fireworks can not be sold to under 18s

If you know, you know

Is that opposed to propping up bars Alan 😂

There's a lot of interest in what Elon Musk is planning with the X App, with rumours that he is planning for it to be a single App for all needs, much like WeChat and Grab in Asia and China. These apps are designed to allow you to access a variety of services, ordering food, cabs, manage conversations and even paying bills. More on the background below from the BBC. With the revelation a few years ago concerning how much services like Facebook, Amazon and Google mine your data as a source of revenue, building personality profiles on you and to tailor selling you products, the big question is will we all willingly sign up to what potentially is another land grab on our data and virtual life? Obviously you can to an extent tune how much information big companies gather on you and the gdpr rules have had an impact but would you trust one company to know virtually everything about you in exchange for a convenient App that allows you to do almost anything on line? I personally feel that this, and Metas concept for a virtual world, when after Covid we just all want to reconnect to normality is possibly a very bad thing for our freedom of speech, data and gives too much power to big tech. How do you feel about your digital future? BBC News - Elon Musk, Twitter and the mysterious X app https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63141272

Groan I bet you still chuckled! ;-) It was PasoDoble as a joke

So you dismiss the fact the the DfT figures that LTNs are based on are false because you don't like the strap line used.. Interesting how you try to dismiss key data that goes against your narrative just like that...

Here's the data behind the story. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/road-traffic-statistics-information#minor-roads-traffic-estimate-review All this at the same time that the council are redesigning the junction in the village.

The Sunday Telegraph has a piece on LTNs today, claiming that this week, a review of the Government’s Minor Road Traffic Estimates’ report, whose findings were frequently used to justify the schemes, found that the DfT had significantly over-counted the rise in traffic on residential streets between 2009 and 2019. In London, where figures suggesting an almost 60 per cent rise in minor road traffic and a 72 per cent rise on the smallest roads had been widely cited, there had in fact been no increase at all over the decade, the new data show. This leads to doubt that the LTN schemes have been implemented on correct assumptions. Hopefully this new information from the DfT will be the start of unravelling the mess LTNs have caused. The story is here https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/01/war-motorists-based-false-government-data-calls-scrap-ltns-grow/

Groan

Don't get me wrong, I'm not objecting to the program on a Saturday night, people love it and it's a great bit of entertainment if you like that sort of show. What is getting to me is that every bbc live show (for example the one show, morning live ...) seems to be promoting Strictly like its the new religion of the Messiah. This morning they even featured it on the London Marathon commentary. No BBC just no, everything is not about promoting Strictly... What next, Strictly contestants hosting Songs of Praise 🫣 Anyone else getting fed up of the constant self promotion by the beeb ?

Today Fares please Ding Ding