OneGuyFromBarlick

Nothing funny about the Donald Trump campaign reaction to the shootings in Baton Rouge.... He evidently doesn't realise that the NRA is solid Republican.....
I leave you to mind the shop until next Saturday....

So the Eagle has flown.

If you are referring to Stanley...yes...and likely he will need a bit of a sleep in after he lands.

It looks like Donald Trump expects to have the USA run by the Trump Clan. He's brought in the whole family to give talks supporting him, notably his wife using phrases taken straight from a past Hilary Clinton speech.

Meanwhile in another part of the woods Boris admits he has offended so many people that it would be too difficult to apologise to them all.

And the Labour Party's Mexican stand-off continues to provide endless interest for the news media.

I am still getting to grips with what is going on in the marvellous fairy land that is politics today. I put myself into voluntary purdah during the week, no radio, no TV, no internet and no newspapers. However Martha did draw my attention to one quotation from a Guardian article covering the press conference with Kerry. 'It was reported that Mt Johnson referred to the current problems in Egypt. It is believed he was actually talking about Syria....' My God! Will anyone take this man seriously?
I got my membership pack from the Labour Party. I see that Angela Eagle has dropped out in favour of Owen Smith and from what I read about him and his lobbying activities I am not impressed..... (LINK)

I got mine through as well Stanley and due to the Gerrymandering of the NEC with the non agenda item they voted on to disenfranchise fully paid up members, neither of us will get a vote in the leadership election.

The NEC is due for re election and I'm not sure whether we will get a vote for that. Sally has received her papers and completed and returned them. If we do get a vote I'm sure you will make your own mind up but you should be aware that there is a preferred slate of socialist candidates suggested from within the nominees.

Stanley wrote:..'It was reported that Mr Johnson referred to the current problems in Egypt. It is believed he was actually talking about Syria....'

Ah, so that's why we invaded Egypt last week.

I find the Labour Party fiasco byzantine. It makes me feel like one of those kids whose parents are breaking up but don't get on with it, separate, divorce, and live apart. You know it can no longer work with them both together.

You are not alone..... People like Ian and I are sitting waiting patiently to see what happens......
I will repeat again what I have said before. They should stop rabbiting on about being electable. The most important task is to get the Party's aims and objectives clearly laid out. The MPs on the whole don't want this as it places restrictions on them by curbing their most venal instincts. Quietly away, Corbyn is making progress I think despite the massed ranks of his detractors both inside and outside the movement. He still has my support.

What's worrying about it now is that it isn't only the relatively right-wing Blairites who are complaining about Corbyn but I hear and see traditional socialists, people who are very concerned about the less wealthy and less able, also complaining about him. He seems to be putting off women too.

CNN has just reported `Donald Trump bounces into the lead'. Trump "Donald Trump comes out of his convention ahead of Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, topping her 44% to 39% in a four-way matchup". Trump is getting into top gear now and `anything goes'. He's annoyed that Ted Cruz wouldn't endorse him so he's started repeating the claim that Cruz's father is shown in an old photograph alongside Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's assassin, implying some association between the two men. At the same time he continues bad-mouthing Hillary Clinton.

We seem to have shifted into a world where lying, cheating, defrauding, abusing and insulting are all considered to be normal and acceptable. Trump stepped up the intensity a few notches and then Brexit took it up further. The Nasties now believe they're free to say and do whatever they wish. Beware!

I've been on Alert for many years Tiz....
News of my membership has penetrated to the local party. They tell me they have been told to suspend all local meetings until October. That's a nasty!
Worth noting that today is the anniversary of the 1945 Labour election victory with a majority of 150 seats with results that we all benefit from even today. Probably the biggest electoral shock in modern history and an example of what can happen when the electorate decided a change was needed, in this case form the War Economy.
Later at 06:45. News that Owen Smith has made a bizarre offer to make Corbyn President of the Party if he steps down.... Can he do that? Also there is growing concern about his vague defence of previous stances and the NHS and his lobbying activities for health firms. As it stands Jeremy has an overwhelming lead according to the polls but we all know how unreliable they can be. Roll on October, then the real fight could start. If Corbyn gets a good mandate the opposers have three choices, fall into line, continue to disrupt the Party by attacking their democratically elected leader or forming a new party. Interesting......

Stanley wrote: Later at 06:45. News that Owen Smith has made a bizarre offer to make Corbyn President of the Party if he steps down.... Can he do that?

I heard that last week and he has already been taken to task over it. The Party does not have a President only a leader so it would have to be some kind of made up post not supported by the Party constitution and no, he can't do that. Shows what he knows about how it all works.

It gets even worse for Labour. No meetings till October! How is that democratic? I think I'd be resigning - or calling an unauthorised meeting.

From Guido Fawkes. No idea who Michael Foster is or what his chances of success are. I still think an immediate General Election should be called.

Lawyers for Labour donor Michael Foster are in the High Court today to argue that Labour’s NEC was wrong to rule that Corbyn did not need the backing of 51 parliamentarians to become a candidate in the leadership contest. If the judge rules against Corbyn, Oily Smith could become Labour’s leader without a single rank and file member’s vote being cast…

David, you are right! But people like Ian and I are taking the democratic choice of being full members and fighting from inside the tent using the established democratic mechanisms.
I've been watching Foster, see PE for his antecedents. I think he will fail but if he didn't there would be an earthquake in the Party! Classic case of money trying to buy power.
Remember Richard alerting us to the problems of N Ireland, the land borders and the settlement, after Brexit? It looks as though PM May has woken up to it as well. Hard to see the way out of that one! Unintended Consequences.....

here seem be only one thing certain about the 'Economic Miracle' this morning..... Opinions on its health are completely split and nobody really knows what is going to happen. The Tory press is naturally talking it up but other more moderate commentators are saying that it is too soon to make any such judgements.
My own opinion is that, by a shade of odds, it is going to be worse than the optimists think.

The pressing political problem at the moment is the decision on Hinkley Point. The adverse factors are becoming clear and I can't help thinking that in the end, the political need for action due to years of inertia in energy policy is going to trump normal commercial practice and we are going to buy a pig in a poke.....

Can't help thinking that 18 billion quid and 10 years could move electric storage and renewables to the point of being viable on a large scale. I'm definitely not anti-nuke, but its a hell of a lot of money.....

I'm something of a fan of "the fully charged show" on youtube. Produced by Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf & Scrap Heap Challenge). And I'm right on board with his take on Hinkley Point C .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5lg73SDYUw

Its popular, its on Youtube, it has adverts at the beginning, but stick with it.

Good link that Pluggy some very salient points put forward I wonder if Theresa watches him? He did forget to mention the worlds first nuclear accident up at Windscale, now Sellafied of course where we "reprocess" ours and a lot of other folks nuclear crap, sorry waste products. Nuclear is the bogey man that we think we know but we don't yet know how to decommission one properly. They are all a bit like a Pandora's Box and the amount of dubious and extremely dangerous by product's they produce would say to any sane person, why would you build one in the first place.

Commit £18billion into Fusion research?

It definitely will need more investment but it's still a long way off and the costs are rapidly increasing. Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor began in 2013 and its cost is currently expected to be equivalent to $14 billion. There are problems still to be solved, particularly how to make a reactor body that can survive the high energy neutrons and solving this alone is going to cost a fortune. They're talking about the 2030s at the earliest for an operational reactor but the US senate has been threatening to stop its funding for the project.

The Spectator - Charles Moore

The Scots, like all other voters, answered the question which was put to them which was whether the United Kingdom should leave or remain in the EU. They were not asked what Scotland should do, any more than London Liverpool or Bristol - three cities which voted Remain - were asked whether they sought secessionist EU membership.

Two articles on the politics page of the BBC News web site caught my attention today, one about Labour splitting and the other about UKIP being close to nominating candidates for the new leadership. If UKIP got a more acceptable leader and Labour did split it could mean some more big changes in the British political scene and more unrest.

I guess we could have told them this...but at least they're raising the issue. If we invest money to improve people's lives we'll save more than we spent.

`Poverty costs UK £78bn a year, Joseph Rowntree Foundation says' LINK
The report outlined the following key costs:
£29bn on treating health conditions associated with poverty
£10bn on schools providing initiatives such as free school meals and pupil premium for poorer students
£9bn on the police and criminal justice systems dealing with the higher incidence of crime in more deprived areas
£7.5bn on children's services and early years provision, such as free childcare for deprived two-year-olds
£4.6bn on adult social care
£4bn on housing

Julia Unwin, the foundation's chief executive, called for "real action" to tackle the causes of poverty and reduce the bill for taxpayers. She said: "Poverty wastes people's potential, depriving our society of the skills and talents of those who have valuable contributions to make. "This drags down the productivity of our economy, hinders economic growth, and reduces tax revenue." A government spokesperson said creating a Britain that worked for everyone "means tackling the root causes of poverty".

There's still hope, especially after Trump suggested that Russia should hack into Hillary Clinton's emails....
`Trump campaign teeters on the brink' LINK
"Like a boxer on the ropes, the Trump campaign has weathered a flurry of body blows over the past few weeks. Is this the beginning of the end, a full three months before election day? Should Donald Trump throw in the towel before the inevitable November knockout? The latest round of national polls has set off something akin to a mass panic among Republican officeholders and intelligentsia, with some wishing Mr Trump would just quit already and leave them to pick up the pieces. Here's why...."

Looks like Stanley and I will get a vote in the Labour leadership election after all. A High Court ruling judged in favour of allowing new party members the vote. The court case was was brought by over 1700 people crowd funding the appeal.

Tiz, the Rowntree Foundation are OK in my book, they've been plugging the same message since the 19th century.....
I saw the report of the court case over our vote in the Leadership election. See THIS for a BBC report that the NEC are contesting the decision (at a vast legal cost!) which is sad. I shall wait to see if the High Court sticks to its guns.....
As for the government, they appear to be in hibernation......