Leaderboard

I think 'twas me: https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ One nuclear has closed - hence cannot achieve the 6.8 or so it had been at for some time.

It’s very interesting how the newspapers have reacted to the Number 10 party. Some completely ignoring the story and focusing on “Serbian National stays in an Australian Hotel“ Instead ;)Some report the incident as if Martyn Reynolds is the sole offender and that Boris Johnson is the victim of collateral damage from Reynolds’ incompetence Others go in for the kill. It’s easy to predict which approach has been adopted by the selection of rags on offer to us. It will be interesting to see if Dame Dick sends the filth round to Downing Street to issue a few fines. My guess will be no, she won’t. She has been purchased by being indoctrinated into the Jimmy Saville Club. Dame Dick is on a short leash. The threat of a TV licence funding review should keep the BBC quiet. If they can get people angry about brown people in dinghies again, that would be helpful too. The public are sufficiently conditioned to accept more BS. Johnson might just pull this off.

Jesus Christ.

I think the latest party scandal at Number 10 is the final nail. The Prime Minister must now go, and she will have to take Boris Johnson with her.

why do you pay tax ? move the company to the caymen islands. https://www.offshorecompanycorp.com/company-formation/jurisdiction/cayman-islands?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RQjIxmVR9qAwscLa27olbUAR-3bEVMGTnxjxfzuz7JU3KCA95mz7bkaAhmhEALw_wcB

if you make a benefits claim for say universal credit you are told to do it online buy default so when they sanction you and you cant afford to put credit on your phone to manage your uc account online and if they change the claimant commitment online in 7 days and dont accept it they shut down the hole claim. they set you up to fail from day one. but you can make a uc claim over the phone as you do have a choice just the dwp dont want ppl to know this lol.

The Met are under more pressure... Before Christmas, we wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking them to explain or reverse their refusal to investigate the unlawful parties alleged to have taken place at No 10 Downing Street in December 2020. We’ve now received the Met’s response, which raises more questions than it answers, and strongly suggests their refusal to investigate the alleged No 10 parties was unlawful. And now the Met’s approach is under the spotlight again following yesterday’s revelations of yet another party, this time organised by a top No 10 aide at Downing Street in May 2020. Each new revelation makes the Met’s policy of not investigating these breaches more damaging. In short, the Met says it concluded that further investigatory work would be required before they could decide whether to bring charges, but rather than attempting to do this, they just closed the case. Their attempts to justify that decision really don’t make sense. First they say they relied on the Government’s assurances that no rules had been broken. Then they say there would have been no point in interviewing No 10 staff about the parties because they would have refused to answer questions that exposed them to a risk of prosecution. In what other crime would police decline to investigate because the suspected offender assured them no rules had been broken? And those justifications can’t both be true; if no rules were broken, there’s no risk of self-incrimination. We’re intent to get to the bottom of it. It is not good enough for the Met to delegate their investigative duties to the press. We don’t believe they would make such concessions for anyone else accused of breaking the law. They seem to be operating a two-tier system, with one rule for those in power and one rule for everyone else. And we think that sets a dangerous precedent with serious implications for public trust. We’re issuing formal legal proceedings to force the Met to revisit their decision. Those in power broke the rules – repeatedly. They should face the same consequences as everyone else. https://goodlawproject.org/news/met-police-no-10-christmas-parties/

Enjoy, and please report back after you've had it a few weeks, always helpful for others.

I think king rat's great and should stay. He's singlehandedly torpedoing brexit and the tory party and securing a labour victory at the next election. And showing the blue wall the complete contempt the conservative party hold them in. In banal language only a tory can and they understand. A deceptively difficult achievement that. He will have deserved that peerage once he goes

Sadly and misleadingly theres more to it than that(Heath knows, this is for the OP) Claimed range is calculated using the lightest rider, in a wind free environment, on the smoothest of tarmac, with zero inclines, in the height of summer, with no extra clothes or luggage. Probably not even so much as a multitool or bike pump being carried. In the real world thats not how the bike would ever be utilized. That bikes claimed range in miles is about 24, with the above criteria, and the damned thing weighs 34kg.

i bet he will get covid and not be able to attend lol ks has had it 3000 times already:p

Just round the shops and a bit of pottering ?. Something like this would be ideal.

Note this is not intended as an endorsement of JC or any other politician, but to agree with the sentiment of full access for continuing participation in a democracy

Having one brake cut out would negate the need to switching off the system.

lots of things are essential to life, but they are not free, eg food, water, electricity. Broadband is free in schools, libraries, airports trains etc, also available if you have mobile phone signal. Some people live in isolated areas where they don't have mobile phone signal, they will have to subscribe to more expensive satellite broadband. Why do you think that government MUST provide free broadband?

Urgent question of the day: ONE URGENT QUESTION TODAY… @AngelaRayner -asking the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on reports of an event held in the Downing Street Garden on 20 May 2020

To some extent, that probably describes me. I still have my doubts about the line-up Labour had on offer at that time. But then I think, what is it that they could have done that would have been worse than anything this clown-show has engaged in? Could you imagine if Diane Abbott had awarded a multi-million pound PPE contract to her local pub landlord? Would it have been reported differently to Matt Handcock's dealings? I'd be interested if someone could give me three things that JC's Labour would have done worse than the current crop of imbeciles.

LK manages this: Tory MP Michael Fabricant appeared to defend the gathering, tweeting that meeting outdoors "would not have increased the risk of contagion" and the people invited "had worked incredibly hard on all our behalves". But Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "Boris Johnson has consistently shown that he has no regard for the rules he puts in place for the rest of us. "He is trying to get officials to take the fall for his own mistakes, but he sets the tone for the way Downing Street and the rest of government operates." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59930733 My question is always, would they have done this if the whole thing had been in public at the time? The invite, shots of it happening, etc. As I see it, all they can do is point out that it was in the past. Which is, of course, untenable. Every crime, when detected and prosecuted, is in the past. Until Minority Report, that is unavoidable. Hmm, I wonder how MR technology would have assessed Johnson becoming PM?

Telegraph and FT are the only ones which do not have the story in some form on their front pages (at some point last night - they do sometimes change). BBC has it as top story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-59948846

When you put it like that, the awful lies, pathetic incompetence, sickening double standards and vile corruption look far more palatable than that line up of hopefuls.

Well that's been my point for weeks. Be careful what you wish for. Looks like Boris will be moving out of his refurbed flat soon but who will be choosing new wall paper?? Gove? Shapps? Raab? Sunak? Truss? Got to be one of them.. Might aswell keep Boris. That's the mechanism that got him there. Better than alternative...??

All I can add is that Orbea say their sytsem is a range extender via charging the in frame battery. The other bike brand if they say it is in parallel have in place a different electronic system that routes the power separately then Orbea uses.

They are very easily frightened off, never discount the Tory lie machine. It's destroyed many past Labour leaders and will be brought into use again if necessary. It doesn't need much, given the large numerical advantage the Tories have since the loss of Scotland and even a little of Wales. It might have been easier for Starmer if he was an original, but he's not, he's Blair mark 2 in every respect and that is a huge disadvantage for left wing voters. No matter how bad Johnson is, for Labour to win a GE with a strong enough majority to govern, it's uphill all the way. .

Essentials shouldn't have to depend on commercial interests, and broadband is now an essential for full participation in our modern life. Jeremy Corbyn had the wisdom to understand that. And it's not just broadband, the smartphone is close to having the same status now. Just as centuries ago we had politicians with the sense to see that the postal service needed to be cheaply universally available to all, so we need the same realisation for the post's modern replacements. As with the post, only the state can achieve an equal service for all. .

Corbyn was wise enough to see that broadband had become an essential component of empowering the people to live lives to the full. Such as the poorest children having access to home education during lockdowns instead of losing out as so many did. .

The Michelle Mone case is also not going to help Johnson.

I think his tactic will be to give the public the finger and say, fuck you, I’m going nowhere. It might work. Just what does he have to do before his party stop backing him? Where have they set the bar? When I think it can get no lower, they always surprise me by reducing the acceptable standard even further. Why do these people go into politics if there personal standards are so low?

Never said it did. I said it's a giveaway for a homebuild that is almost certainly illegal.

I'm confused. This forum is related to pedelecs, and this is an electric motorcycle.

"pedelec (from pedal electric cycle) or EPAC (Electronically Power Assisted Cycles), is a type of electric bicycle where the rider's pedalling is assisted by a small electric motor;" A twist and go is a electronic motorcycle.. if you can move without pedalling, it's not a pedelec

If the allegations are true that he and his wife (gf at the time I think) attended that party then I don’t think even he can worm his way out of it so I think he will have to go. Can anyone think how he can get out of it, or perhaps does he think the public are fed up with all the talk of lockdown parties and just want to move on, and is hoping most of the press will back him and he will just get away with it once again.

Someone needs to publish the list of all invitees - and who attended. Having been invited but kept quiet is itself an issue. But having attended and kept quiet, effectively lying by omission, could be a bigger problem.

That’s a good point and it illustrates the scale of deceit / contempt for the public within government. A minimum of 100 people have known about this for 21 months and they’ve kept a lid on it! Perhaps this is why no one is ever sacked or can be sacked. Everyone is so mired in corruption and deception it would turn into a circular firing squad if anyone pulled the trigger. It explains a lot.

I don't mind Hunt or Gove.

At the time, it was between Jeremy Hunt and BJ. BJ was the choice of the brexiteers so BJ edged it. I was still surprised at the scale of BJ's win in the ensuing GE. So many people believed that JC was unelectable.

The power of the Tory lies and dirty tricks machine. In terms of honesty, integrity and even competence, Jeremy Corbyn was far more electable than Boris Johnson. But the British public were too thick to see it, taken in by the lies. .

BJ for comparison? that's setting the bar pretty low. I am for lowish tax and smallish government, concentrating on education, healthcare, roads, energy. I am not particularly for public ownership unless it's related to healthcare or transport, OK for water but not free broadband. For me, JC is pretty much unelectable on economics.

Sadly you aren't alone in this thread in that respect. I was very much a lone voice in sticking up for Corbyn. It baffles me how few people have a mind of their own and know how to use it effectively, prefering the lazy option of believing what they've been told to believe. .

A short while ago, someone posted a link to a web page which gave a visual representation of where our electricity is being sourced from. I can see a coal fired power station in the distance from my house. I noticed they lit it yesterday evening and it now seems to be chugging away on the horizon. I was quite excited to see that the "Coal" dial on the web-page has moved from zero to 1.72 GW today. It's the first time I've seen it move off zero since the link was published! Looking at the other dials, there doesn't seem to be much slack in the generating capacity. Once the wind stops blowing we seem to be thrashing every other plant to death and sucking juice from the continent. The coal power station I can see on the horizon is earmarked for closure in a couple of years. I wonder what will happen then? I think it spews out about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Nice.

I didn't say it had to be free, quote: "Just as centuries ago we had politicians with the sense to see that the postal service needed to be cheaply universally available to all" But it has to be cheap enough for everybody to access, and ideally that means free for very many. London's buses are a good example, free up to 16 years or 18 if in full time education, then free from 60 years. And if the authorities are really serious about getting people out of cars, make them free for everyone in between. Ken Livingstone showed how that principle could work, with motorists through the congestion charge paying into public transport to enable today's rock bottom £1.55 bus fare, about a third of everywhere else in the country. It's no accident that London now has the lowest car ownership in the country and its young showing less interest in car ownership than anywhere else. It's about the public good, and having everybody online at any time is beneficial and efficient for the whole of the country through it's governance and community benefits. There's far more to vision than having eyes that work. .

I always found the commercial approach to internet somewhat bizarre. Where I used to live, we had a choice of NTL (now Virgin) or BT. But loads of places couldn't get either. And that pattern occurs again and again. You might have thought it would make more sense for someone to attempt to ensure everyone has one product available before doubling up. And there have been numerous places where simple things like a directional wifi on a modest pole would permit relatively remote locations to be reached for very little cost.

broadband is cheap. You can get 15GB download a month with unlimited calls for £8 a month with Vodafone. Honestly, cost is not exactly a debate here. offering free broadband to entice voters is not a mark of a great thinker.

That is quite a cost. Plus perhaps £500 for the kit. And heated sufficiently to attract cats. Who pays for that electricity? There are quite a number of places where near-neighbours have good connections but they themselves have appalling speeds. (As was the case for us until fibre to the premises was installed. Many times, a tiny decision can mean some properties were bypassed for decent broadband. Then they were offered it at a huge price. Simply a matter of luck which way the initial decision had gone.

Woosh... . You are rapidly moving goalposts here. The rich always had options , the poor less so. The rich could courier parcels and letters anywhere any place any time ... It was the innovation of the Penny Black, so that a letter sent between two adjacent streets in London subsidised the letter going from Barra to Aberdeen. That I believe is what fleec was referring to. Now the provision of quality Broadband replaces Banks, Post Office and Cash machines ..also Libraries and maybe Surgery consulting, and the Employment Exchange, the Probation Service...

Just got my popcorn in for tomorrows PM questions, hopefully KS will be back from isolation to put Boris through the wringer. Looking forward to see what lies BJ will spin to try and get out of another fine mess he has got himself into.

Nobody is saying all essential things should be free, but some things are so necessary and potentially universally used that it makes sense for all to pay through taxation for all to use, whether they pay tax or not. When did you last pay to walk on a pavement? When did you last pay for the light from lamp posts to light your way on a particular journey? Or for the drainage that takes the water off the pavement you walk upon or the road you cross? Have you ever had to put a coin in a slot to use a pedestrian crossing? World Wide Web access ranks with all those in being essential for a highly efficient and safe way to carry out all of our communications, using the minimum of resources and paper free for the benefit of the environment. So since it should be universally used for the benefit of every one of us, individually and as a society, it makes no sense to individually charge everyone for it since that charging needlessly uses huge resources. Just include it in the general taxation fund at no extra cost. .

The other strand of that is the need for broadband to be physically available to all. Which does seem to have improved somewhat, but we are still not there. If we have commercial implementation of broadband, we need to apply measures to achieve, as nearly as possible, 100% coverage.

It is developing proper party splitting legs https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59956939

Independent is saying staff were told to clean up their phones to remove things like references to parties. If so, that is getting ever more serious - conspiring to pervert the course of justice at the minimum.

Some things oil the wheels of society and the economy and they shouldn't necessarily exist to make a profit. They certainly shouldn't be in the hands of middle-men who add no value and just skim a percentage. Energy and now internet access fall into this category, closely followed by public transport.