WTF is happening in the UK?

[OFSO]

Instead of dropping back to 1.12 euros for the weekend as usual, the pound has closed and stayed at 1.15. I can't see any particular reason for this optimism.

[Woody]

Instead of dropping back to 1.12 euros for the weekend as usual, the pound has closed and stayed at 1.15. I can't see any particular reason for this optimism.

Sunak is in Japan

[barkingmad]

Is there a disconnect between this;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65650532

and this;

https://conservativehome.com/2015/09/09 ... on-policy/

And we’d best not mention the rest of the brood, out there somewhere?

“There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.”

[Woody]

[Woody]

[Boac]

What on earth was #5724 about, Woody?

[Woody]

What on earth was #5724 about, Woody?

This might be clearer

[Boac]

Image is clearer.............., but............??

Ah! Banks. Rhymes with................? Another fine example of the Farage band. Was that an attempt to express himself coherently?

[tango15]

What on earth was #5724 about, Woody?

This might be clearer

Idiots all of them! They know nothing. I went to West Germany several times in the 60s' and never needed a visa. The whole business of the Beatles going to Hamburg was official, (ie they were invited), so I doubt that even though they were working, they would require a visa. Maybe some sort of work permit, but that would easily have been sorted out. The reason Harrison was sent home was for being underage. That said, Hamburg in those days was a 'free' city - lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll - so I have been told so I suspect that visas were the last thing that the authorities would worry about. George Harrison was almost exactly two years older than me, and I was interested in the whole situation at the time. As I understand it, he was sent home for working while underage. He was the youngest of The Beatles.

[OFSO]

I went to work in Germany in May 1968. Drove in at the Luxembourg/Deutschland border crossing. Can't remember any difficulties. Got my Sonderausweis a few weeks later. (Wish I still had it.)

[barkingmad]

Admin2 says Play the ball, BM?

Welcome to try the post again, properly, of course.

[Boac]

Oooh dear! I bet it will be unbridled fun here when BM wakes up and discovers Verify on the BBC

Not sure where to post this - I wondered about viewtopic.php?f=64&t=5293 or viewtopic.php?f=64&t=4557 but decided here. No doubt Admin2 will move if he thinks fit.

[flyboy22]

Why are posters being censored on here. Apparently because their posts ‘offend’ or are disliked? Nobody has an innate right to not be ‘offended’ or not be ‘disliked’.

How about we accept (like Elon Musk with Twitter) that sometimes there will be posts that we don’t particularly like, or even that some will choose (it is a choice) to be ‘offended’ by.

That’s called ‘Life’. Get over it and move on. Or reply, with facts, data and truths.

[Boac]

All you great politics watchers - Ms Braverman - is she a total liability for Richie and/or the next Tory leader?

[OFSO]

The liability is that Sunak seems unable to take clear decisive action. The problem is that he needs the support of MPs who in turn are fans of Boris Johnson or Liz Truss or Stella Braverman or any number of other people, and taking action against these people is likely to lose him support. Read your Machiavelli! (From my memory):The action that (a ruler) takes must be so gentle as not to invite reprisals or so hard as to make recipients terrified of making a reprisal. Sunak is doing the former, and shows him up as weak. He doesn't need advisors or review panels or legal experts. He needs to wield the Big Stick. Get Braverman in his office and dismiss her. Out!

[OneHungLow]

James Cleverly’s use of £10,000 an hour Succession-style jet ‘ludicrous’
Exclusive: UK foreign secretary has been using type of private jet featured in hit TV show for Caribbean and Latin America tour

In the cut-throat world of hit TV show Succession, it is the go-to private jet for the Roy dynasty, providing a backdrop to the programme’s high-level plotting amid luxury leather upholstery.

Now it has emerged that an Embraer Lineage 1000E – lauded as “the crème de la crème of private business jets” – has also been the choice of aircraft for the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on his eight-day tour of the Caribbean and Latin America.

The jet costs more than £10,000 an hour to hire, and includes a lounge area with big-screen TV and a master suite for its main VIP, complete with queen-size bed, private bathroom and shower.

Labour attacked the hire of the jet from a German aviation company as a “ludicrous extravagance”, which showed how Rishi Sunak’s government was out of touch with the public.

While cheaper options are available, few would have come close to matching the accolades associated with the Embraer Lineage 1000E. Business Insider called it “one of the best luxury private jets money can buy” while Luxatic magazine described it as “the ultimate statement of wealth”.

Cleverly was tweeting pictures of himself on Monday in the Amazon, part of a tour that has so far taken him to Kingston, Jamaica, and Cartagena and Bogotá in Colombia before scheduled stops in Chile and Brazil.

He was due to use a keynote speech in the Chilean capital, Santiago, on Monday to set out the UK’s future relationship with Latin America.

Although it is not known how many officials and advisers have travelled with the foreign secretary, up to 19 passengers and three crew can be seated on the Brazilian-built jet, which has been chartered from German VIP plane specialists Air Hamburg.

When contacted to provide a quote for the cost of a 10-day round trip to Latin America, taking in two cities, the company indicated that the cost would be about €400,000 (£348,000).

Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, said travelling overseas was an essential part of the foreign secretary’s role.

“But it beggars belief that – at a time when British families are running out of ways to make ends meet – James Cleverly thought it was appropriate to conduct this tour in the kind of luxury jet used by billionaires and pop stars, with British taxpayers footing the bill.

This sort of ludicrous extravagance at the public expense just shows how out of touch Rishi Sunak’s government are. No wonder their response to the cost of living crisis has been so utterly hopeless when they have such little concept of what ordinary life is like for people in our country.”

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “The foreign secretary’s job requires him to travel abroad to pursue UK interests. This was the most time-effective way to do this in this instance. Value for money is taken into account in all travel decisions and costs are regularly published for transparency.”

Ministers will use commercial flights where practical and security considerations allow, according to the government.

Cleverly was pictured meeting the UK’s ambassador to Colombia and other dignitaries at Cartagena after descending the steps of the distinctively marked jet.

His trip came as British embassies across the region prepared to celebrate 200 years of UK-Latin America relations, according to the FCDO.

In Chile, the FCDO said Cleverly would highlight the UK-Latin America partnership on tackling the climate crisis, upholding democracy and human rights and securing free and open supply chains of critical minerals. Latin America, home to 660 million people and with combined GDP of almost $6tn, was also described as an enormous potential market for the UK.

From the beginning of 2021 to the end of 2022, there were 31 occasions where foreign secretaries – Dominic Raab, Liz Truss and Cleverly – chartered private jets or used one of the government’s fleet of ministerial planes to travel overseas, at a combined total cost of £4.6m.

A freedom of information request by Thornberry’s team revealed that on none of those 31 occasions was the foreign secretary accompanied by members of the media or delegations of businesspeople, leaving the taxpayer to cover the entire cost.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... travagance

After all, nothing impresses members of the Cali Cartel more than a luxury South American manufactured jet!

They should have put the bugger on a flight with these folks!

[4mastacker]

Apparently the two scrotes who won a Darwin award in Cardiff the other day were "really nice boys". Were they?? Really???

15/16 year old "really nice boys" don't do selfies of themselves smoking spliffs, giving gansta signs and riding illegal electric motorbikes on the highway without a driving licence, no tax, no insurance, no number plates, no helmets.

If their parents want sympathy, they'll find it in the dictionary.

[OneHungLow]

Apparently the two scrotes who won a Darwin award in Cardiff the other day were "really nice boys". Were they?? Really???

If their parents want sympathy, they'll find it in the dictionary.

Ely, a rough impoverished neighbourhood at the best of times, with a history of disturbances and riots, like the Bread Riots back in 1991 when I lived in Cardiff. Not at all posh like Cyncoed, Heath, Radyr or even Pontcanna! That said, my better half's best friend was born in Ely and she is a lovely lady, so we shouldn't judge people without knowing them I guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Ely_bread_riots

Ely, like other impoverished flashpoints in this country, is a bellwether of the economic stress in this country. Go figure. It may be a long hot summer all over this simmering land.

Here is another lady who rose above the poverty of both spirit and pocket that can trap people in society. Barry is not as bad as Ely but is certainly not a great place to be growing up in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haley_Gomez

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I note security camera video has emerged (I've seen it) that does show the police in very close pursuit (under 1 second behind) just before the accident.
I expect there's more trouble to come, given the initial Police statement denied they had any involvement.

[4mastacker]

Is this the footage you have seen?
Youths killed in Cardiff.

I think SWP may be playing at semantics - they denied that they were involved in the crash and had no vehicles on that road at the time; they don't appear to have denied that they were previously following the bike. According to the BBC, the bike took a route that was bollarded and which prevented the police vehicle following them (perhaps that is why the police van turned left into another road). The bike crashed beyond the bollarded road.