diable rouge

Please tell me they're now making them up... NEW - One No10 official: "Boris will feel more sorrow than Mary did watching Christ on the cross. It?s that level of void left in his life."

Where do journos like Laura Kuenssberg dig up their 'sources' from?... Another former colleague of PM and Mirza predicts her departure could be start of the end game... 'The apocalypse is preceded by all sorts of things you never expect to happen. The moon turns red and the sun goes black. Munira leaving boris had to be on such a list.' So bad it's good :) :) :)

Rats leaving sinking ship update... Big blow for Boris Johnson. No 10 policy chief Munira Mirza, at his side since City Hall, quits over Jimmy Savile slur: ?This was not the usual cut & thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate & partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse. You tried to clarify your position today but, despite my urging, you did not apologise.''

Boris Johnson: Smeargate, a play in 4 Acts... Monday: Boris Johnson makes Jimmy Saville claim Tuesday: No10 says PM stands by what he said Wednesday: Johnson doubles down in Commons Thursday: PM completely backs down Can't get enough culture vultures? Don't worry, a sequel is coming, Boris Johnson: Partygate, currently in production...

What's been the most interesting about recent polling is that Labour is now ahead on who would be best for the economy, which is very unusual, and I can't see anything that's been suggested today that will change that perception...

You could run the waste pipe externally but that would definitely need planning, and if it's as you say, at the front of the house, you might not get approval if it spoils the character of the property. Is it a semi or detached property? If so, could the waste go out to a side elevation and down the side of the house? Do you know where the main sewer is? Usually they are in the road at the front of a house, so you may already have drains running under the house or down the side, which you could connect into. This can be done internally, but would require a double-seal internal manhole, not the most aesthetically pleasing unless it was in a utility/boot room or similar...

''not saying it cant be done, but its a nice soudbite when you're in opposition (easy votewinner to rage agaist faceless, big, dirty oil companies), but much mroe difficult to apply in practice to a degree that will actually make a tangible difference...'' Oh I agree, rightly or wrongly, this will ultimately be about 'politics' rather than prudent economics. People won't give a fig about economic intricacies when the bills start landing on the floor. ''...not sure I agree that 'most sensible people' were really fully aware of what they were asking for (economically speaking) in supporting lockdowns.......Sixty-nine per cent of voters etc'' I never said sensible people were in the majority, after all 'a majority' voted for Brexit...

The ?200 'loan' seems to echo the prevalent Wonga economics of 'buy now pay back later' of financing purchases, albeit without extortionate interest rates, which originally used to be for one-off big-ticket purchases, but has now crept into mainstream weekly grocery/clothes shopping. Despite no interest, they still have to be paid back, and I suspect this 'loan' is just going to add to an already ticking time-bomb...

I think most sensible people realised that there would have to be some payback for the lockdowns etc, so it's more a case of how. Surprised the Gov in its current plight missed the open goal of a windfall tax on the energy companies, who are making huuuuuge profits on the back of energy price rises. Seems Sunak didn't want to 'put off investors'. Profits before people, I wonder how that will go down in the Red Wall...

''Of course they do but can you imagine the title if I included everyone e.g It's going to be tough on families, single people, pensioners, war heroes, non binary people and the general unwashed?'' I thought you had it there for a moment. How about It's going to be tough on...*cue drum roll*...everyone

1. Not a fan of combis in houses/multiple bathrooms so will leave that to others. 2. Biggest problem will be the 4'' waste pipe if you're having a loo, if so, might be easier to go straight down to the ground floor and run it under the floor void to the nearest drain. If you've got a solid ground floor then requires digging a trench etc, messy. The other option is to try to run a waste pipe within the depth of the upper floor (depends on direction of joists and depth of fall required to get to a vertical stack), or run it below the ceiling and box it out (can look ugly). You might be able to use a macerator and have a smaller bore waste pipe, again not a fan as they can be noisy and prone to blockages. 3. You shouldn't need planning if no material change to elevations e.g. modifications to a window, but you will need Building Control to sign-off the new works.

Thanks Meds, I'm in...

''His comments about Starmer were unsavoury, but not sure it's a lie to point out that he was DPP when the CPS failed to prosecute Saville.'' He didn't point that out, he stated that Starmer failed to prosecute Saville. That's simply not true and as Seph stated above, it's nothing more than a far-right smear that Johnson parroted. Johnson going full-Trump yet again and we all know how well that turned out. Here's a Reuters fact-check article rebutting the smear...https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-britain-savile-idUSL1N2RP200

From Jessica Elgot... Hoyle gives a light touch rebuke to Johnson on his Savile comments."Procedurally, nothing disorderly occurred. But such allegations should not be made lightly "I am far from satisfied that the comments in question were appropriate on this occasion... I want a nicer Parliament." Therein lies the problem, he can't even insist that Johnson withdraws the smear...

Best if you go and lie down in a darkened room...it will pass.

''There?s a clip of Johnson I saw yesterday, from a little while back.'' Rory Stewart Tweeted about it recently, here's a link...https://twitter.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1487342161616150531?cxt=HHwWhoC9qZr0jKQpAAAA

''Just back from a gathering of local like-minded folk...hope the fireworks didn't disturb your dog...'' Let's put this one down to intoxication...

Yesterday showed how inadequate Parliamentary procedure is when someone knowingly lies and/or makes false claims/smears. Blackford is asked to leave the chamber because he called Johnson a liar (something which is patently true both inside and outside of Parliament) based on nothing more than an archaic principle that 'Honourary Members' cannot be called a liar in the chamber as it's considered 'unparliamentary language'. You then have Johnson making a false claim/smear that Starmer when head of the DPP failed to prosecute Saville, which is untrue. This is what Tory MP Julian Smith Tweeted about it... ''The smear made against Keir Starmer relating to Jimmy Saville yesterday is wrong & cannot be defended. It should be withdrawn. False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust & can't just be accepted as part of the cut & thrust of parliamentary debate.'' So here we have a system that allows an MP to tell a lie and/or make false claims/allegations yet not be held accountable if untrue. Parliamentary Privilege also prevents Starmer from making a claim of slander in an outside court. This is why Raab on the radio this morning referred to what Johnson said but wouldn't say whether the claim was true or not, because he wasn't covered by PP. So when a proven liar is called out for his lies in Parliament, they are protected by the system. This PM and the Gov know this and are deliberately abusing it...

It's the new Guy Fawkes Night, every year there'll be a 'bonfire of EU red tape' while ignoring Brexit has created a internal border of red tape of it's own making...

He likes hiding in cold places...

According to the report's Terms of Reference it was never going to be blockbuster stuff, but it was more critical than I expected e.g. ''the failure of leadership''. Don't forget, it was also heavily redacted, this is just an ''update''. Starmer hasn't been the greatest LOTO, but his speech in the Commons was very good, and that will strike more of a chord with the public and the sacrifices we made. Lordy knows what Johnson was thinking of when he brought up Saville. This is not going to go away and no amount of running-off to the Ukraine or hiding in fridges is going to detract from that, especially as we now know there definitely was a party in the No. 10 flat, which the Met are investigating. Oh, and the small matter of 300+ photos in their files...

''But weren?t we told we could do that not by raising taxes but by leaving eu?'' We were also told there would be 'levelling-up', yet increases in NI hit the lower paid harder...

That only addresses the stupidity of the protagonists, to change most pro-Brexit voters minds about Brexit they need to feel the economic effects of Brexit personally...

Frosty has become Gaslighter-in-Chief, while simultaneously being held up as some sort of Brexit intellectual by Leavers. Well, quite. Guess who's going to have to pick up the tab for the incompetence. From a cityam* report earlier in the week... The political choice of Brexit has cost UK businesses as much as the unforeseeable Covid pandemic. British companies have lost over ?250bn to Covid and an equal amount to Brexit by the end of 2021, but the Brexit tally is now rising faster, The Centre for Economics and Business Research found that Covid-19 lockdowns had cost UK businesses ?251bn by March of last year. It revealed the value of the goods and services produced by the economy was more than ?250bn lower than it would otherwise have been. It calculated the Gross value added (GVA), which measures the value of the goods and services produced by the economy, minus the costs of inputs and raw materials needed to deliver them. Covid-19 cost small businesses alone an estimated ?126.6bn, according to the business insurer Simply Business, while a November 2021 Government report revealed the UK lost almost ?365 billion in GDP from Covid overall. Commenting on the figures, David Jinks, who is head of consumer research at delivery firm ParcelHero, said: ?British businesses have had a torrid few years.? ?Brexit or Covid, which has been the heavier burden for them to bear? The shocking answer is that the entirely avoidable Brexit crisis has had as much of an impact on UK businesses as the unforeseeable Covid-19 tragedy, and its costs are still rising,? he added. ?No one could have foreseen the arrival of the pandemic and there was little that could have been done to shield UK businesses in advance. However, this is certainly not the case for the impact of Brexit on UK businesses,? Jinks said. The confrontational handling of trade negotiations with the European Union made ?a bad situation worse,? he stated. Before Brexit had even happened, a 2020 report by Bloomberg Economics revealed that, by the end of that year, the economic cost of Brexit already exceeded ?200bn in lost revenues to UK companies. It calculated the British economy was 3 per cent smaller than it otherwise would have been. Since Brexit actually happened, on 1 January, 2021, the UK Trade Policy Observatory reveals that the reduction in trade has lost UK businesses a further ?44bn. ?That breaks down to ?32.5bn lost in potential imports to the UK and ?11bn in exports to the EU,? Jinks pointed out. The UK Government splashed a further ?8.1bn on preparing for Brexit and the end of the transition period, according to the Institute for Government. ?In our view, that was money that should have been spent on promoting UK trade across the EU and beyond, not battening down the hatches,? noted Jinks. The figures mean that the combined costs of Brexit and of the pandemic both equal around ?250bn. However, in the long term, Brexit could end up costing even more than Covid-19. Thomas Sampson, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics, said: ?When measured in terms of their impact on the present value of UK GDP, the Brexit shock is forecast to be two to three times greater than the impact of Covid-19. Moreover, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told the BBC last October that leaving the EU would ?reduce our long run GDP by around 4 per cent.? It is believed the effect of the pandemic will reduce GDP output by only a further 2 per cent. With the end of lockdown and travel restrictions, the impact of Covid measures is now receding but the Brexit bill continues to mount. The most recent Government Business Insights report has revealed that, last month, 66 per cent of UK businesses experienced challenges with exporting and 79 per cent with importing. ?This has had a knock-on effect on transport and logistics companies. A staggering 36.7 per cent of transport and logistics companies either closed, paused trading entirely or continued trading only partially in December,? Jinks shared. This is only how much the loss of physical goods sales has cost. The Institute for Fiscal Studies say exports of professional services to the EU slumped from 44 per cent of the UK?s entire international services trade in 2016, before Brexit negotiations got underway, to just 30 per cent in 2021. It forecast a net drop in overall UK services exports. *The cityam editor is (was?) pro-Brexit