Off Topic The Politics Thread

[sb_73]

£ surges against $ and a bit against €. Expectation that interest rates will go up (about bloody time, sorry non fixed rate mortgage borrowers) to help curb inflation. Especially welcome as I'm off to the US next week possibly for the last time for work, where I can buy a new iPhone X for about £200 less than here. Not that I want to, even I have topped out with apple stuff now.

 

[kiwiqpr]

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[kiwiqpr]

and for balance

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[Stroller]

£ surges against $ and a bit against €. Expectation that interest rates will go up (about bloody time, sorry non fixed rate mortgage borrowers) to help curb inflation. Especially welcome as I'm off to the US next week possibly for the last time for work, where I can buy a new iPhone X for about £200 less than here. Not that I want to, even I have topped out with apple stuff now.

Can't see a rate rise happening any time soon. The tenuous growth we have had recently has been consumer-led and largely based on borrowing. Interest rate rises, along with Brexit fallout, would most likely tip us back into recession.

There are also still millions who narrowly escaped repossession after the bankers' crash for whom significant interest rate rises could be disastrous.

 

[sb_73]

Can't see it happening any time soon. The tenuous growth we have had recently has been consumer-led and largely based on borrowing. Interest rate rises, along with Brexit fallout, would most likely tip us back into recession.

There are also still millions who narrowly escaped repossession after the bankers' crash for whom significant interest rate rises could be disastrous.

I doubt it would be old style significant Strolls, a quarter percent or something like that. The markets obviously expecting it and buying their £ cheap, but I think it's pretty conclusively proven that the markets know **** all. Might all go back down after May's speech next week.

 

[Stroller]

I doubt it would be old style significant Strolls, a quarter percent or something like that. The markets obviously expecting it and buying their £ cheap, but I think it's pretty conclusively proven that the markets know **** all. Might all go back down after May's speech next week.

Everyone knows **** all....

https://www.standard.co.uk/business...esday-sowed-the-seeds-of-brexit-a3635196.html

 

[kiwiqpr]

How long have you been there Kiwi? I spent a month or so travelling around and walking the tracks way back in 1987. Stunningly beautiful country and the best place in the world, back then, to hitch hike. But back then still stuck in the 1950s. Getting a pint on a Sunday or after 10 in the evening was a struggle. Not sure if it was NZ or Australia where at one time the pubs closed at 6pm, leading to the 'six o'clock swill' a rush to drink so desperate that some bars had a trough in front of them so people could piss without losing their place at the bar or stopping drinking.

Which brings me to an excellent radio programme The English Fix, which has looked at patriots like Orwell and Barbara Castle. Today it was the turn of the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. Really interesting, as it slowly emerged that his vision of Englishness was essentially that of a country gentleman hobby farmer, dressed up in praise for the common law, and the idea that physical isolation has made us different to other places. His yearning for an imaginary past actually made me feel sorry for him after a bit, as did his constant referencing of Orwell, who was a great patriot and an internationalist democratic socialist at the same time. He did have the grace to admit that once we are out of the EU (of course he can't wait) there will be other people to blame for our woes. Worth a listen.

been here since 2003
booze laws have changed since you were here stan
although you still cant buy spirits or alcopops in the supermarkets


The end of the 'six o'clock swill'
9 October 1967

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Last day of six o'clock closing at the Porirua Tavern (Alexander Turnbull Library, PADL-000185)
Fifty years of six o’clock closing in pubs ended after a referendum convinced the government to abolish the antiquated licencing law.
Introduced as a ‘temporary’ wartime efficiency measure in December 1917, 6 p.m. closing for pubs was made permanent the following year.
The ‘six o’clock swill’ became a part of the New Zealand way of life. In the short period between the end of the working day and closing time at the pub, men crowded together to drink as much beer as they could before bar service ended and the ‘supping-up’ time of 15 minutes was announced.
A mood for change began to emerge in the 1960s. The growing restaurant and tourism industries questioned laws that made it difficult to sell alcohol with meals, while members of sports clubs and the Returned Services’ Association also sought a change.
When the government held a national referendum in late September 1967, nearly 64 per cent of voters supported a move to 10 o’clock closing.

 

[sb_73]

Against my better judgement watching Question Time. Everyone on the panel is hateful, including Will Self, and a staggering level of inarticulacy from the audience. Very depressing all round.

 

[Stroller]

Against my better judgement watching Question Time. Everyone on the panel is hateful, including Will Self, and a staggering level of inarticulacy from the audience. Very depressing all round.

Depressed me so much that I switched quite soon to BBC4. Indie stuff from the 90s followed by Kate Bush. How bad.

 

[sb_73]

Depressed me so much that I switched quite soon to BBC4. Inidie stuff from the 90s followed by Kate Bush. How bad.

Not quite as depressing as learning that the Financial Services Authority has spent £42m on the advertising campaign about PPI featuring the animatronic head of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

[kiwiqpr]

been here since 2003
booze laws have changed since you were here stan
although you still cant buy spirits or alcopops in the supermarkets


The end of the 'six o'clock swill'
9 October 1967

You must log in or register to see images

Last day of six o'clock closing at the Porirua Tavern (Alexander Turnbull Library, PADL-000185)
Fifty years of six o’clock closing in pubs ended after a referendum convinced the government to abolish the antiquated licencing law.
Introduced as a ‘temporary’ wartime efficiency measure in December 1917, 6 p.m. closing for pubs was made permanent the following year.
The ‘six o’clock swill’ became a part of the New Zealand way of life. In the short period between the end of the working day and closing time at the pub, men crowded together to drink as much beer as they could before bar service ended and the ‘supping-up’ time of 15 minutes was announced.
A mood for change began to emerge in the 1960s. The growing restaurant and tourism industries questioned laws that made it difficult to sell alcohol with meals, while members of sports clubs and the Returned Services’ Association also sought a change.
When the government held a national referendum in late September 1967, nearly 64 per cent of voters supported a move to 10 o’clock closing.

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better idea of pubs between 4 and 6

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better idea of why the men wanted longer hours

 

[QPR999]

Against my better judgement watching Question Time. Everyone on the panel is hateful, including Will Self, and a staggering level of inarticulacy from the audience. Very depressing all round.

Depressed me so much that I switched quite soon to BBC4. Indie stuff from the 90s followed by Kate Bush. How bad.

Awful panel, awful audience and a complete lack of insight. That's for all the initial subjects discussed ... They're coming at it all wrong regarding Grenfell Tower. They're all pandering to the rhetoric ... it is far deeper than that. Hopefully Sir Martin Moore-Bick comes up with the correct conclusions regarding this horrific incident.. His wife Tessa Gee was my teacher in my primary school.

 

[durbar2003]

£ surges against $ and a bit against €. Expectation that interest rates will go up (about bloody time, sorry non fixed rate mortgage borrowers) to help curb inflation. Especially welcome as I'm off to the US next week possibly for the last time for work, where I can buy a new iPhone X for about £200 less than here. Not that I want to, even I have topped out with apple stuff now.

Not next week you wont.

 

[durbar2003]

Can't see a rate rise happening any time soon. The tenuous growth we have had recently has been consumer-led and largely based on borrowing. Interest rate rises, along with Brexit fallout, would most likely tip us back into recession.

There are also still millions who narrowly escaped repossession after the bankers' crash for whom significant interest rate rises could be disastrous.

The pounds strength is because the markets feel there will be a rate rise in the next month or two. Prices of sterling/dollar call options have surged.

 

[rangercol]

Against my better judgement watching Question Time. Everyone on the panel is hateful, including Will Self, and a staggering level of inarticulacy from the audience. Very depressing all round.

Will Self...........a condescending twat whom I would never get tired of punching!!

 

[sb_73]

Not next week you wont.

Not on sale yet? Good, I won't be tempted.

 

[YorkshireHoopster]

Against my better judgement watching Question Time. Everyone on the panel is hateful, including Will Self, and a staggering level of inarticulacy from the audience. Very depressing all round.

I didn't watch it past the first question when some non-entity of a government minister made a hash of it followed promptly by some non-entity from the Labour shadow cabinet who got stuck in the groove and just kept repeating:

'It's in our manifesto'
'It's been fully costed'
'Rule and Divide'

She had clearly spent all day learning her lines in an effort to avoid embarrassing herself and her party.

If I had been persuaded that she was a thinking sentient being as opposed to a robot which does not have the power of thought once wound up outside the box I might have been tempted to listen to the next set of questions and answers. As for Will Self, his sour griping and clear belief in his self-importance and superior intelligence to anyone else on the planet has been annoying me since about the second time I ever heard him speak.

Not surprised about what you say about the audience. But then they will all be supporters of Millwall or West Ham so not terribly shocked by the experience of listening to them!

 

[QPR Oslo]

The pounds strength is because the markets feel there will be a rate rise in the next month or two. Prices of sterling/dollar call options have surged.

And the markets feel that because of minutes to the Bank of England meeting yesterday which kept the interest rate at 0.25%, but said the markets were undervaluing the likelyhood of long term inflationary pressure causing rises in the interest rate, and thus talking the £ up. Carney confirmed this after, and that Brexit, was the reason the £ has been so weak since the vote.

 

[TheBigDipper]

The next leader of the Conservative party, WRM, has had some criticism from charities regarding his comments on food banks. His remarks are being called "un-Christian” - which is apparently a problem, because he considers himself "a committed Christian".

Don't they understand that this sort of thing worked for Trump and will work for WRM? Plenty of people will decide that he's the man for them on the basis of "If those people over there don't like him... ". Better they should shut up and let him hang himself unopposed.

These days, it seems we select one thing we like about someone and then give them our support without looking too closely at the rest of what they bring to the party. Then, when challenged, we dig in and defend our choice in the face of all the other facts presented, as if we're supporting a football team.

 

[sb_73]

Will Self...........a condescending twat whom I would never get tired of punching!!

I didn't watch it past the first question when some non-entity of a government minister made a hash of it followed promptly by some non-entity from the Labour shadow cabinet who got stuck in the groove and just kept repeating:

'It's in our manifesto'
'It's been fully costed'
'Rule and Divide'

She had clearly spent all day learning her lines in an effort to avoid embarrassing herself and her party.

If I had been persuaded that she was a thinking sentient being as opposed to a robot which does not have the power of thought once wound up outside the box I might have been tempted to listen to the next set of questions and answers. As for Will Self, his sour griping and clear belief in his self-importance and superior intelligence to anyone else on the planet has been annoying me since about the second time I ever heard him speak.

Not surprised about what you say about the audience. But then they will all be supporters of Millwall or West Ham so not terribly shocked by the experience of listening to them!

It really was dire.
I liked Will Self's early fiction, but he disappeared up his own arse a long time ago and he looked ill and under the influence of some kind of substance last night, wasn't even coherent. The sneering radio woman sitting next to him was just horrific and all the politicians a personality and intelligence free zone. As for the audience - if you are on the telly why not think about what you are going to say if you have your hand up rather than spewing out a series of unconnected words?