Stop voting for fucking Tories

[Slick]

Mel C was at the Tory conference earlier in the week speaking about sexual harassment coersion and abuse.

Giving or receiving?

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

[SaintK]

This Government is the shitshow that keeps on giving.

I was under the distinct impression that he swung the other way ?

Is he an equal opportunity harasser ?

From the details that it was; in a bar, at the confrence, & with his track record; I had this down as another, Pincher episode, but Truss was showing a rare piece of good judgement, & wasn't going to defend the infensible, & threw him to the wolves straight away.

He does and it was a male staffer who made the formal complaint.

[SaintK]

Mel C was at the Tory conference earlier in the week speaking about sexual harassment coersion and abuse.

Giving or receiving?

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

Quite!

[C69]

Giving or receiving?

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

Quite!

Indeed tbh she has been at the forefront of speaking up about domestic abuse.

The Tory creep's incident reportedly involved another man btw.
They really are a fetid sewer. Well tbh, they always have been but now people are speaking up.

[tabascoboy]

[SaintK]

With a majority of 70+! They must be really shitting themselves

[tabascoboy]

"The Truss Revolution is Eating Itself"
FT commentary

Under Truss. the Tories are no longer governing for the nation. They are a sect and it's not even clear who they represent

Open image in new tab and expand to full size to make it readable

[Torquemada 1420]

Mel C was at the Tory conference earlier in the week speaking about sexual harassment coersion and abuse.

Giving or receiving?

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

I'm confident that I would derive zero utility reading anything about yet another so called celebrity.

[Biffer]

Giving or receiving?

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

I'm confident that I would derive zero utility reading anything about yet another so called celebrity.

Torq in posting shite from a position of ignorance shocker.

We are all very surprised.

[fishfoodie]

[Lobby]

With a majority of 70+! They must be really shitting themselves

It’s not so much the size of the majority that scares her, but rather the prospect of Tory candidates losing their deposits in previously safe seats.

[tabascoboy]

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

Quite!

Indeed tbh she has been at the forefront of speaking up about domestic abuse.

The Tory creep's incident reportedly involved another man btw.
They really are a fetid sewer. Well tbh, they always have been but now people are speaking up.

Conor Burns sacked as minister after touching man's thigh, witness says

[fishfoodie]

Quite!

Indeed tbh she has been at the forefront of speaking up about domestic abuse.

The Tory creep's incident reportedly involved another man btw.
They really are a fetid sewer. Well tbh, they always have been but now people are speaking up.

Conor Burns sacked as minister after touching man's thigh, witness says

Allies of the MP claim he had injured his ribs the weekend before the party conference and was on heavy medication to manage the pain.

They suggested the prescribed medicine made the effect of the alcohol worse.

It is not disputed by the former minister's friends that he had been drinking or that he flirted with the young man who had joined him, who, we understand, was not known to Mr Burns.

The MP was sufficiently drunk that he had to later be taken back to his hotel by a friend.

Ah yes, the Roseanne Barr excuse; it was the drugs made me do it

[petej]

Indeed tbh she has been at the forefront of speaking up about domestic abuse.

The Tory creep's incident reportedly involved another man btw.
They really are a fetid sewer. Well tbh, they always have been but now people are speaking up.

Conor Burns sacked as minister after touching man's thigh, witness says

Allies of the MP claim he had injured his ribs the weekend before the party conference and was on heavy medication to manage the pain.

They suggested the prescribed medicine made the effect of the alcohol worse.

It is not disputed by the former minister's friends that he had been drinking or that he flirted with the young man who had joined him, who, we understand, was not known to Mr Burns.

The MP was sufficiently drunk that he had to later be taken back to his hotel by a friend.

Ah yes, the Roseanne Barr excuse; it was the drugs made me do it

The thing is would they let plebs like us use that excuse?

[I like neeps]

Considering Burns was a Boris Johnson ally and we all know from the Pincher scandal his attitude to creeps we can safely assume he's been at it for a while.

The party of family values.

[sockwithaticket]

Considering Burns was a Boris Johnson ally and we all know from the Pincher scandal his attitude to creeps we can safely assume he's been at it for a while.

The party of family values.

And also one that often bangs on about personal responsibility and the individual.

At various points I've been out with friends who are on some kind of medication and they mange to exercise a bit of that personal responsibility and refrain from drinking. If this Tory cunt's incapable of doing that, then perhaps he should be seeking treatment.

[fishfoodie]

Considering Burns was a Boris Johnson ally and we all know from the Pincher scandal his attitude to creeps we can safely assume he's been at it for a while.

The party of family values.

His name was on the leaked Whips list of creeps, & sundry other offenders; so it's safe to say this isn't his first offence, & the Party was well aware of it, & it never stopped his re-selection, or elevation to the Cabinet

[PCPhil]

[Deveron Boy]

Considering Burns was a Boris Johnson ally and we all know from the Pincher scandal his attitude to creeps we can safely assume he's been at it for a while.

The party of family values.

His name was on the leaked Whips list of creeps, & sundry other offenders; so it's safe to say this isn't his first offence, & the Party was well aware of it, & it never stopped his re-selection, or elevation to the Cabinet

Knighthood for services to keeping his mouth shut? He’s allegedly the MP that walked in on BJ getting a bj from Carrie whilst he was still ‘happily married’

[Hal Jordan]

Conor Burns sacked as minister after touching man's thigh, witness says

Allies of the MP claim he had injured his ribs the weekend before the party conference and was on heavy medication to manage the pain.

They suggested the prescribed medicine made the effect of the alcohol worse.

It is not disputed by the former minister's friends that he had been drinking or that he flirted with the young man who had joined him, who, we understand, was not known to Mr Burns.

The MP was sufficiently drunk that he had to later be taken back to his hotel by a friend.

Ah yes, the Roseanne Barr excuse; it was the drugs made me do it

The thing is would they let plebs like us use that excuse?

Stella "Cannabis should be a Class A drug" Braverman says no.

[Paddington Bear]

I met Conor Burns in a student club which no middle aged bloke has any godly business being in, when I was a fresher. Was very good company and we wondered for a while why he'd made a bee line for us and spent most of the night buying us drinks, until a very good looking friend of mine revealed perhaps why a few days later. The last few days have been no surprise.

[SaintK]

...........and another U turn in the Treasury as red hot favourite will no longer be appointed Permanent Secretary

The Treasury U-turns seem to be coming thick and fast this morning. According to a report by George Parker in the Financial Times, the government has abandoned plans to appoint Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the justice department as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Until the end of last week Romeo had been seen as the clear favourite for the job. She was permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade when Liz Truss was secretary of state there and the pair developed a strong relationship. In part that may be because Truss identified Romeo as a fellow disrupter, not bound by Whitehall orthodoxy and convention.

[Slick]

...........and another U turn in the Treasury as red hot favourite will no longer be appointed Permanent Secretary

The Treasury U-turns seem to be coming thick and fast this morning. According to a report by George Parker in the Financial Times, the government has abandoned plans to appoint Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the justice department as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Until the end of last week Romeo had been seen as the clear favourite for the job. She was permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade when Liz Truss was secretary of state there and the pair developed a strong relationship. In part that may be because Truss identified Romeo as a fellow disrupter, not bound by Whitehall orthodoxy and convention.

Hmm, I've met her a couple of times and my view, which I have to say was widely shared, is that she was promoted well above her talents at DIT.

[Lobby]

...........and another U turn in the Treasury as red hot favourite will no longer be appointed Permanent Secretary

The Treasury U-turns seem to be coming thick and fast this morning. According to a report by George Parker in the Financial Times, the government has abandoned plans to appoint Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the justice department as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Until the end of last week Romeo had been seen as the clear favourite for the job. She was permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade when Liz Truss was secretary of state there and the pair developed a strong relationship. In part that may be because Truss identified Romeo as a fellow disrupter, not bound by Whitehall orthodoxy and convention.

Hmm, I've met her a couple of times and my view, which I have to say was widely shared, is that she was promoted well above her talents at DIT.

Another thing she shares with Truss then.

[_Os_]

Another quite mysterious IEA man.

Singham is from London and was involved in Thatcherite privatisations in the late 1980s/early 1990s. He then disappears to the US becomes a dual national referring to himself as American and ends up deeply imbedded with the American right (lobbying/think tanks/Republican Party). This is where he headed up a project for Babson Global (connected to the Kochs), to create Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in third world nations. These are areas of low-transparency, low-regulation, low-tax, that are supposed to broadly get rid of democracy/human rights based law system/welfare to achieve high economic growth. It's the Chinese model but not really, because it ignores all the other factors in China's reform (which were more significant), only focusing on the SEZs element (which was a way for the CCP to obtain economic growth, without liberalising China more broadly). I'm not sure he really understands the SEZ concept. As far as I can tell all these projects failed or are failing, the one in Honduras has been written about widely.

He then pops up in the Uk again for Brexit, and finds a place in Tufton Street thinktanks, and the IEA. He ends up very closely associated with the ERG, because he told them what they wanted to hear. I remember reading an IEA paper by him in 2018 on his post-Brexit plan, basically it would all be easy and FTAs would hugely boost growth, there was so much wrong with it I remember not even knowing where to start as I read it. There's a good longform bio on that part of his career here. He was known to all the Brexit supporting Tory MPs and became an advisor to Truss when she was International Trade Secretary. Whitehall civil servants regarded him as a "total clown" and “like any of these Brexiteers, he comes up with these ideas that aren’t workable. He’s a good blue-sky thinker, but on the practicalities and details he gets blown apart.”.

Fast forward to today and Truss is crashing ahead with an unlimited amount of "investment zones", which it's unlikely don't have a straight line connection to Singham. He was quite influential among Brexiters immediately after the referendum (and before reality hit and it got difficult), and this was his idea even before Brexit and his return to the UK.

He's now delighting in the "howls of anguish from those who object to reform", the language of a revolutionary madman.

Never heard of this guy. Good shout to highlight him.

An update on this little project, which it now seems is mostly driven by Truss. This from the Financial Times:

They added that before September’s “mini”-budget chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng twice tried to persuade Truss to limit the number of zones to 40 — with Treasury officials warning the prime minister the zones could create a tax liability of “up to £12bn” a year — but was overruled by Downing Street.
As a result, the government this week invited all upper-tier local authorities and mayoral authorities in England to apply to host an investment zone if they wanted one.
“The IZs have created a huge potential liability and the Treasury has been trying to demand a cap on the number,” a government insider said. “Kwasi [Kwarteng] tried twice, but was overruled and caved in to Liz who wants them everywhere — 100 or even 200.”

https://www.ft.com/content/a3aea4e6-0b2 ... 3629a3bc3e

Surely an advanced economy cannot be run like this? Just making it all up on the fly, with some false notion of cutting taxes always works. 100+ "Investment Zones" would put a lot of the UK economy into a blackhole where it pays no business rates for its premises, all investment is tax deductible (there's already a £1m Annual Investment Allowance, so this would just uncap the AIA and tilt the playing field in favour of large corporates), and there's no employer NI contributions. No one seems to have any clue if this would even create new economic activity or just displace already existing economic activity into the blackhole.

[fishfoodie]

Surely an advanced economy cannot be run like this? Just making it all up on the fly, with some false notion of cutting taxes always works. 100+ "Investment Zones" would put a lot of the UK economy into a blackhole where it pays no business rates for its premises, all investment is tax deductible (there's already a £1m Annual Investment Allowance, so this would just uncap the AIA and tilt the playing field in favour of large corporates), and there's no employer NI contributions. No one seems to have any clue if this would even create new economic activity or just displace already existing economic activity into the blackhole.

Is any business dumb enough to invest in the current circumstance ?

Especially with this Government, not being likely to last long.

I just see localities re-designating where ever their biggest employer is, as the zone; so Sunderland will draw a line around Nissan, Derby around Rolls-Royce, etc, etc etc

The Employees will still pay their taxes, but the business won't, & the arse will fall even further out of exchequer receipts

[tabascoboy]

What happens to locations neighbouring an "Investment Zone"? Are they expected to benefit in some way or just go down the toilet as companies relocate to take advantage? And if "Investment Zones" are the cure to all known ills why not just designate the entire country as one?

[Hal Jordan]

there's already a £1m Annual Investment Allowance, so this would just uncap the AIA and tilt the playing field in favour of large corporates

I believe you have your answer.

In other news, plans hatched to ban solar from almost all farmland because food security/fucking idiocy/deliver for the donors.

[sockwithaticket]

From what I read, currently land categorised as 1 - 3a has to be given over to farming. They want to expand that to include 3b even though it's basically fucking useless for growing food.

[Torquemada 1420]

Might be worth reading up on what she has been through

I'm confident that I would derive zero utility reading anything about yet another so called celebrity.

Torq in posting shite from a position of ignorance shocker.

We are all very surprised.

I'm more that happy to remain entirely ignorant of her life. I'll leave the funding of Hello magazine to the likes of you.

[Biffer]

Surely an advanced economy cannot be run like this? Just making it all up on the fly, with some false notion of cutting taxes always works. 100+ "Investment Zones" would put a lot of the UK economy into a blackhole where it pays no business rates for its premises, all investment is tax deductible (there's already a £1m Annual Investment Allowance, so this would just uncap the AIA and tilt the playing field in favour of large corporates), and there's no employer NI contributions. No one seems to have any clue if this would even create new economic activity or just displace already existing economic activity into the blackhole.

Is any business dumb enough to invest in the current circumstance ?

Especially with this Government, not being likely to last long.

I just see localities re-designating where ever their biggest employer is, as the zone; so Sunderland will draw a line around Nissan, Derby around Rolls-Royce, etc, etc etc

The Employees will still pay their taxes, but the business won't, & the arse will fall even further out of exchequer receipts

This is what I hear on the grapevine. No one is going to invest in the UK at the moment because you've got no idea what you're investing in. No idea what regulations are going to be in place in 2, 5, 10 years time, no idea what business or public infrastructure is going to be in place, basically throwing your money into a black hole and hoping.

[Biffer]

I'm confident that I would derive zero utility reading anything about yet another so called celebrity.

Torq in posting shite from a position of ignorance shocker.

We are all very surprised.

I'm more that happy to remain entirely ignorant of her life. I'll leave the funding of Hello magazine to the likes of you.

Domestic abuse court cases aren't really a big thing with those magazines, but stereotyping people in the public eye is, so they seem quite suited to your mentality.

[Torquemada 1420]

An update on this little project, which it now seems is mostly driven by Truss. This from the Financial Times:

They added that before September’s “mini”-budget chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng twice tried to persuade Truss to limit the number of zones to 40 — with Treasury officials warning the prime minister the zones could create a tax liability of “up to £12bn” a year — but was overruled by Downing Street.
As a result, the government this week invited all upper-tier local authorities and mayoral authorities in England to apply to host an investment zone if they wanted one.
“The IZs have created a huge potential liability and the Treasury has been trying to demand a cap on the number,” a government insider said. “Kwasi [Kwarteng] tried twice, but was overruled and caved in to Liz who wants them everywhere — 100 or even 200.”

https://www.ft.com/content/a3aea4e6-0b2 ... 3629a3bc3e

Surely an advanced economy cannot be run like this? Just making it all up on the fly, with some false notion of cutting taxes always works. 100+ "Investment Zones" would put a lot of the UK economy into a blackhole where it pays no business rates for its premises, all investment is tax deductible (there's already a £1m Annual Investment Allowance, so this would just uncap the AIA and tilt the playing field in favour of large corporates), and there's no employer NI contributions. No one seems to have any clue if this would even create new economic activity or just displace already existing economic activity into the blackhole.

Just read the 2 articles you linked in the FT.

Total deregulation (or, at best, devolution to the kinds of morons who sit at local councils) coupled with massive tax breaks. What could possibly go wrong?

Other than £billions lost in fraud that would make PPE scandals look like a rounding error.

[Torquemada 1420]

Domestic abuse court cases aren't really a big thing with those magazines, but stereotyping people in the public eye is, so they seem quite suited to your mentality.

Explain to me how she isn't the archetypal, celebrity stereotype?

BTW, I'm bored of this distraction from the main subject of this thread so suggest you go back and read the original post.

[_Os_]

It seems obvious why Truss is a solar luddite.

1. Most UK agricultural land is pasture. Sheep can graze in solar fields, it's not true solar prevents farming. What the objection is about, is really the same as onshore wind, it's a Nimby objection by Tory supporters to solar regardless of utility/productivity/economic growth.
2. Distributed energy generation where smaller players have a stake (farmers), is a threat to those who own the UK's current energy system who (financially) support the Tories.

You can already see the outline of what will happen long term. When Labour get in they create a nationalised renewables based energy system, it works. Which gets attacked by the Tories simply because it exists and is owned by the state. When the Tories next get in they privatise it, the new owners squeeze everything they can out of it and reinvest not much. Through this entire process smaller players are entirely locked out, there is only the assets the UK state creates and those it decides to gift them to.

[Torquemada 1420]

It seems obvious why Truss is a solar luddite.

1. Most UK agricultural land is pasture. Sheep can graze in solar fields, it's not true solar prevents farming. What the objection is about, is really the same as onshore wind, it's a Nimby objection by Tory supporters to solar regardless of utility/productivity/economic growth.
2. Distributed energy generation where smaller players have a stake (farmers), is a threat to those who own the UK's current energy system who (financially) support the Tories.

You can already see the outline of what will happen long term. When Labour get in they create a nationalised renewables based energy system, it works. Which gets attacked by the Tories simply because it exists and is owned by the state. When the Tories next get in they privatise it, the new owners squeeze everything they can out of it and reinvest not much. Through this entire process smaller players are entirely locked out, there is only the assets the UK state creates and those it decides to gift them to.

On 1, it's even more stupid than that. Sheep keep the plants down which might otherwise block some of the capacity for solar uptake. On some sites, the solar owners even pay farmers to bring their sheep in to graze! The only issue I know of is the need to ensure the wiring is ovine proof.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Not all pasture if all that well placed for collection and distribution of energy, but plenty is. And solar panels don't seem to have much of a negative impact on the weight animals add when grazing in panelled fields Vs just grass, and interestingly when you get down to smaller animals like sheep it seems to reduce their requirement for water which is a big win, probably a shading thing but I don't know if anyone has signed off on the data for that (I'm not saying they haven't just I don't read many agri journals)

[tabascoboy]

Not all pasture if all that well placed for collection and distribution of energy, but plenty is. And solar panels don't seem to have much of a negative impact on the weight animals add when grazing in panelled fields Vs just grass, and interestingly when you get down to smaller animals like sheep it seems to reduce their requirement for water which is a big win, probably a shading thing but I don't know if anyone has signed off on the data for that (I'm not saying they haven't just I don't read many agri journals)

In New Zealand they found Merino sheep produced more wool in pastures with solar collectors, pretty sure that it's the shade that made the difference.
Actually it was Australia https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022- ... /101097364

[petej]

It seems obvious why Truss is a solar luddite.

1. Most UK agricultural land is pasture. Sheep can graze in solar fields, it's not true solar prevents farming. What the objection is about, is really the same as onshore wind, it's a Nimby objection by Tory supporters to solar regardless of utility/productivity/economic growth.
2. Distributed energy generation where smaller players have a stake (farmers), is a threat to those who own the UK's current energy system who (financially) support the Tories.

You can already see the outline of what will happen long term. When Labour get in they create a nationalised renewables based energy system, it works. Which gets attacked by the Tories simply because it exists and is owned by the state. When the Tories next get in they privatise it, the new owners squeeze everything they can out of it and reinvest not much. Through this entire process smaller players are entirely locked out, there is only the assets the UK state creates and those it decides to gift them to.

The absolute fuckwittery of the last 6 or so years is gutting. Here are lots of opportunities and here are the dipshits who are going to make sure you mostly miss out. Working in engineering and manufacturing and it is hard not to loathe the government and those that were conned into voting for them.

[Hal Jordan]

In more funny posh man news, £4.1bn written off by Johnson's Government including £8.6m binning burgundy passports, £1bn on Covid fraud and error on support schemes and £800k on unused plane tickets for unsuccessful deportation.

Oh, and Mr Kwarteng innocently forgot to mention he met Saudi oil company executives whilst in the country in January. At the time he was BEIS Minister.