OneGuyFromBarlick

Not surprising really when you consider the late stage at which Kamala got control. From what I can make out she and her team are working on policy and they will have a clear offering before the November election.
I agree that at the moment this is a handicap but I think it's one they will overcome. Biden clung to his candidacy for too long but nobody is voicing that, they are trying to be nice to him as he sinks into oblivion.

The approach got Starmer into No.10!

That's true, don't hold out hostages to fortune may be the new mantra!

An MP said yesterday

"Our country is not a dormitory for people just here to make money, or a hotel for those passing through. It is our home and no one else's."

This person's mother arrived in London in 1980 whilst pregnant, with the express intention of getting a British passport for her child. This having been achieved - she soon afterwards took her daughter out of the country to Nigeria and later America - returning her sixteen years later, to get a largely free education. She is very bright and undoubtedly has benefited from the process.

I'd have thought a bolt of lightning would be the least we could expect!

The child's name you will have guessed, was of course "Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke" - now known as Kemi Badenoch.

Brilliant! Thanks for that David, I didn't know that but of course suspected it.
It's so satisfying to catch these people out being hypocritical (The word hypocrisy comes from the Greek ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis), which means "jealous", "play-acting", "acting out", "coward" or "dissembling".)
However, the thing that strikes me is that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and did she really believe she could get away with making a statement like that?

The Prime Minister in Parliament today, October 7th.

"We will not falter in our pursuit of peace, and on this day of pain and sorrow, we honour those we lost"

They weren't "lost". The passengers on the Titanic were "lost".

These poor people were deliberately, and sadistically, slaughtered.

Dead right David and well done for spotting it and making the point.
It reminds me of what a WW1 veteran once said to me about the language used at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day. He objected to the concept that the dead 'gave' their lives.... He said they were taken away.
Weasel words.

A bit long winded for a "quote", but relevant to the present day, those with history training, and the small part this site may play in the future to record the "actualité".

WHAT will future historians know and think about the 2020s? Will there even be historians in the future?

I once asked the Australian geologist and climate sceptic Ian Plimer why he persisted in rational debate over climate change, given his opponents never use reason, evidence or logic, nor can they ever be persuaded to change their entrenched views by anything he might say or demonstrate? His answer was that he was simply laying a paper trail for future historians to sift through so they might understand what occurred in our time, understand there had in fact been voices of sanity and science, and perhaps understand why the good guys lost.
Plimer’s noble efforts might, however, prove ultimately in vain. Is there any real hope the written record of his work and that of others doing, for example, real climate science will be preserved for future historians? Well, there is a concerted effort ongoing to prevent the Plimer version of climate passing down to the next generation. George Orwell in that oft-quoted novel famously said, ‘Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.’ Who, we wonder, will control the present in the future (if you know what I mean)?

A comment on the article -
The message from this fine article is clear. It falls to us all to write our own accounts of life as we are seeing it played out before us. We must record with as much clarity and detail as we are capable of setting down, the dreadful times we are being forced to endure. In times to come it will be our collective histories that will be the information bank that future historians and seekers of truth will need to make any real assessment of the dark times that represented the early decades of the 21st century. All tyrannies are vanquished eventually. Ours will be the real truth that will prevail.

Asking whether it is of any use trying to lay the paper trail is the right question David. I have often asked myself the same thing. After all, what is certain is that eventually 'the record' as we know it will be totally destroyed, think of Sun collapsing and destroying the planets round it......
My answer is very similar to your comment..... I don't know if I do any good by trying to draw attention to the record. What I do know is that it feels worthwhile and every now and then people tell me they have enjoyed one of my nudges. That's good enough for me..... I shall keep buggering on leaving something better than a trail of destruction!

Patrick O'Flynn (who is much smarter than most) -
from The Spectator. (Not the BBC. )

"Rather comically, the Sun newspaper was briefed that Starmer will declare the border crisis a ‘national security issue’, announce a crack new team of investigators, hold talks with Giorgia Meloni and vow to end ‘gimmicks’. So that’s three gimmicks followed by a promise not to indulge in gimmicks. It would take a heart of stone not to laugh."

He is correct David. It is so stereotypical as to be ludicrous without any comment! The depressing thing for me is that one assumes they are intelligent so do they really think that the public will swallow stuff like that and be content with it?
Our immigration problem is geographic, once you reach this green and septic isle there is nothing but 3,000 miles of rough sea beyond us and if the US isn't accepting immigrants you have no choice but to settle here. Therefore the 'problem', (It used to be an asset..... ), can only be 'solved' by removing the need for them to set off westwards in the first place. Spend the money on investments in the countries the immigrants are coming from. Either that or processing them there before they set off.

"Starmer has just spoken at COP29 in Baku and confirmed that the UK’s new emissions target is an 81% cut on the 1990 level by 2035. "

Not 80% but the much more precise 81% - and what happened in 1990 that it is taken as a reference point, what happened to "pre industrial levels", and why wait till 2035?

Said in Baku - where oil sometimes oozes up through the pavement, and the tap water has oil in it. (Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but true not long ago).

Forty to fifty thousand delegates travelled (most flew) to Baku for this meeting.
I do meetings on the Interwebthingy.

It's all rowlocks.

I agree with you David. It's all a front and I think many are suspecting that this is the death of the COP initiative.
PS I heard a quote yesterday that when asked why he was promoting the use of fossil fuel the Premier said "It's a god-given gift" Did they say that Azerbaijan produces 1/5 if the worlds oil?

Oh no, not him again... From BBC News page today: The Mail on Sunday leads with a report that former Vote Leave chief Dominic Cummings "is helping orchestrate Elon Musk's vitriolic attacks on British politicians". According to unnamed government sources,

I notice elsewhere that in France they now say us Brits are having trouble with the US due to what they call `Trusk'.

I heard the same reports Peter. The man poisons all he touches. Let's hope he does as well for Musk as he did for Johnson......

Andrew Neil - as sharp as ever. . . .

America innovates
China imitates
Europe regulates


UK - suggestions welcome . . . .

How about UK emulates?

I started a list and "stagnates" was my best effort, then I found this remarkable resource. Take your pick.

Words that end in 'ates'.

PS I learn that 'enervates' means exactly the opposite of what I thought it did.

Comment on China's DeepSeek AI this morning...
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen may have said it best. "DeepSeek-R1 is AI's Sputnik moment," he posted to X on Sunday, referring to the satellite which kicked off the space race....
It was Sputnik that truly ushered in the space age. There, too, the US was caught off guard. How its tech sector responds to this apparent surprise from a Chinese company will be interesting - and it may have added serious fuel to the AI race.

And, lurking in the shadows, is what I believe will be an essential ally of AI, Quantum Computing·.... The mind boggles at what the consequences could be.....

Thirty years ago, "The Terminator" film franchise started in 1983. Multiple follow on films since in the series. All based on the premise of the development of AI which was so useful and reliable it was allowed to control global security. It then becomes "self aware" and decides to protect itself with the catastrophic results that follow. Very much SciFi at the time but some aspects seem to be playing out in modern reality.

"Don't talk to me about pain. I've got seven!
Ernie Roberts, tackler at Bancroft Shed. 1978

A quote from today's BBC update on the Washington airliner crash...
When the American Airlines jet and helicopter collided on Wednesday, there was, in fact, no FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] administrator. The Biden-appointee Michael Whitaker had resigned in December, just one year into his five-year term. Media reported the early departure was spurred by an adviser to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, who had called for Whitaker's resignation after the FAA proposed fining his rocket company SpaceX $600,000 for alleged launch violations.

But President Trump says that the cause was poor staff quality and quantity caused by equal opportunity initiatives in recruiting Flight Control staff.
There is more to this crash than meets the eye..... Will it be allowed to surface?

Cornell University senior lecturer Lutz Finger (founder and CEO of AI startup R2Decide) commenting on Elon Musk's attempts to disrupt OpenAI, owned by Sam Altmann.
"Musk has missed the AI train, somewhat. He's behind, and he has made several attempts to catch up," Mr Finger said. Now, Mr Finger says, Mr Musk is trying to kneecap his most formidable competitor.

Such a pity Mr Finger wasn't called Goldfinger!