Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

11 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

As I understand it, possibly because light blue mainly fought seats that had previously supported brexit, and had disgruntled blues who voted for the light blues as a protest.  In a few cases that translated into a seat, in most other cases they fell short.  Team Orange fought mainly in places where they were a consistent second and grabbed the protest vote, light blues in that case started from too far behind and failed to make an impression. 

 

You have to pick your battlegrounds, Bear, and Light Blue need to learn. The Oranges have been doing it for decades.

 

PR is always brought up by the over-entitled who think they should have a bigger reward.

 

 

 

Ironically  PR is, or was, a favoured method for the orange team.

 

I looked at what the red team had promised to do about tax, seeing as my job involves that. Not a lot, it turns out. There's a lot about what they are not going to do but apart from that, the main aim seems to be public schools - or rather the parents of the kids who go there, who will end up paying 20% more for their school fees.

 

I see the Captain of the red team went to one of those schools - or at least it became one while he was there, nit that they had to pay for him. 

 

But other than that, watch this space....

 

Sadly no sight of a kingfisher on today's walk, so you are spared a blue blob on a branch....!

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Well, I did an 8-hour stint watching the Election on the TV. Went to bed at 6am and it was already light...

My constituency still hadn't been announced; the carrier pigeons were obviously flying slow over Dorset. 

[Coombe Barton]

... I finally got a response yesterday from HR on my retirement, and that had to be prodded out of them. I’m now equipped to deal with my future. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/07/05/covid-highest-for-a-year-predictions-comparison-to-actual/

[PhilJ W]

21 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Well, I did an 8-hour stint watching the Election on the TV. Went to bed at 6am and it was already light...

My constituency still hadn't been announced; the carrier pigeons were obviously flying slow over Dorset. 

Same here, my constituency is the other one that hasn't been announced yet. Yet by all accounts it's a shoe-in for Labour but there's a few pockets of muslim voters, I wonder if that makes a difference?

[PhilJ W]

Now that Sunak has quit as party leader I wonder who's going to replace him? The Conservative party is walking on a very narrow mountain path. On the left is a sheer cliff face and on the right a sheer drop into shark infested waters. 

[polybear]

20 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... I finally got a response yesterday from HR on my retirement, and that had to be prodded out of them. I’m now equipped to deal with my future. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/07/05/covid-highest-for-a-year-predictions-comparison-to-actual/

 

Bear got a "yes" response from HR regarding my early retirement a mere 18 hours (maybe less) after submitting the application form.  Do you think I may have upset them?  🤣

 

(Prior to that I didn't even realise they could spell "yes")

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

39 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

I looked at what the red team had promised to do about tax, seeing as my job involves that. Not a lot, it turns out. There's a lot about what they are not going to do but apart from that, the main aim seems to be public schools - or rather the parents of the kids who go there, who will end up paying 20% more for their school fees.

There won't be any movement until the new tax year. The budget for this tax year (2024/25) has been set by the outgoing government and would be very difficult to change. With the stonking majority the Labour government can afford to wait nine months.

[jjb1970]

The usual response of losing parties is often to shift even further in the direction that voters rejected, especially when the winner has taken the centre ground and when there are no real policies differences between them. A few years ago the blue team lurched to the right because there was already a government that was pretty much blue team with a red label in a dominant position, not so long ago the red team lurched to the left. I tend to think parties lose elections more than opposition winning them in Britain. In 2010 the blue team failed to win outright despite the mess the country was in, this time the red teams performance isn't very impressive given the utter shambles of what went before. There seems to be a shelf life in British politics that after about three election cycles governments fall apart. The dominant team north of the border seems to have been pretty much wiped out this time when for a few years people were imagining Scotland becoming a single party country.

[PhilJ W]

35 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... I finally got a response yesterday from HR on my retirement, and that had to be prodded out of them. I’m now equipped to deal with my future. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/07/05/covid-highest-for-a-year-predictions-comparison-to-actual/

 

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear got a "yes" response from HR regarding my early retirement a mere 18 hours (maybe less) after submitting the application form.  Do you think I may have upset them?  🤣

 

(Prior to that I didn't even realise they could spell "yes")

When I retired HR finally pulled their finger out two months before I was due to go, but only because I reminded them I had two months leave to come and I would be starting it the following day.😁

Edited July 5 by PhilJ W

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

I see the Orange Team got 71 places to park their bums - with 12.2% support (3.5M) 

Yet the Light Blue(?) team only got 4 bum parks - yet they had 14.3% (4.1M)

 

Is this cos' of that "proportional representation thingy" that gets mentioned?  If so it seems a pretty sh1tty deal to this Bear......

 

(I reckon with Statistical Analysis skills of this calibre a Certain Bear deserves a degree - how's about it @Coombe Barton? )

 

 

No, its because you use that "First Past The Post" thingy instead.

 

Depending on which proportional representation model is used to redistribute the losing candidates preferences, Reform could have won up to 92 seats, and Lib Dems up to 79 seats.

Edited July 5 by monkeysarefun

[4630]

44 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

There won't be any movement until the new tax year. The budget for this tax year (2024/25) has been set by the outgoing government and would be very difficult to change. With the stonking majority the Labour government can afford to wait nine months.

Whilst that’s certainly the case for the majority of personal and business tax rates, there are other income generating measures available to any new Chancellor at a change of government during a tax year.
 

I think I’d expect the incoming Chancellor, and I’d bet money on it being Rachel Reeves* but I doubt that I’d get favourably odds, holding some sort of ‘fiscal event’ during the Autumn.  If only to provide a formal early indication/confirmation from the new government of the state of the public finances. 
 

It’ll also need formal input from the Office of Budget Responsibility to ensure some sense of prudence and to avoid spooking the financial markets. 

 

 

* I see from Sky News that her appointment has now been confirmed.

 

 

Edited July 5 by 4630
To reflect the appointment of the new Chancellor.

[polybear]

32 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

When I retired HR finally pulled their finger out two months before I was due to go, but only because I reminded them I had two months leave to come and I would be starting it the following day.😁

 

A buddy of Bear's walked into his Boss's office (not at the Great Empire) and handed over his desk keys and security pass to a rather confused Boss - and then said:

 

"I'm 65 today - I'm now retired, see ya" and promptly walked out, leaving a very embarrassed Boss behind.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The White Rabbit]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

I see the Orange Team got 71 places to park their bums - with 12.2% support (3.5M) 

Yet the Light Blue(?) team only got 4 bum parks - yet they had 14.3% (4.1M)

 

Is this cos' of that "proportional representation thingy" that gets mentioned?  ...

 

53 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

No, its because you use that "First Past The Post" thingy instead.

 

Depending on which proportional representation model is used to redistribute the losing candidates preferences, Reform could have won up to 92 seats, and Lib Dems up to 79 seats.

 

According to the Daily Telegraph, this is the result of using the first past the post system:

 

[zarniwhoop]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I always vote, that was drummed into me by my Suffragists great aunts.  However I did spoil my paper once and that was the first election for Police and Crime Commissioners.  I strongly object to politics being involved in my former profession.  I am rather eased with the result in the constituency that I used to live him as I had absolutely no time for the previous incumbent who got kicked out. 

 

Jamie

Yeah, I vote in council or national elections but voting for police and crime commissioners is a step too far towards the American model.

[Andy Hayter]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

 

 

PR is always brought up by the over-entitled who think they should have a bigger reward.

 

 

 

 

 

Well that is a view of course but at some stage the voting population are going to question why you can get 2/3rds of the seats with 1/3rd of the votes.  And that is when it could start to get nasty, very nasty.

 

And don't be surprised if Nige isn't the one to start stirring the pot.

[DaveF]

After a look at the results this morning I decided to avoid the news until sometime this evening so once I dealt with some emails I went to the beach and had a very enjoyable walk on the promenade though the wind was cold, I was glad I had decied to wear a warm fleece - one I normally need about early October.  It was busier than usual for a Friday morning, perhaps others had the same idea.

 

I was back home in time to clean the kitchen floor before coffee, somehow I had got mud on it from gardening yesterday.    After that I did some work on an electrically powered object so it now has my usual home made couplings.

 

After eating a Pork Farms pork pie and salad for lunch I sorted out some things for church this Sunday followed by moving some books so that new models will fit on the shelves in what might otherwise be a spare bedroom.

 

Then I read through the Radio Times for next week and decided that there is very little worth watching and not much worth listening to either.

 

Shortly it will be greenhouse and tub watering then tea.  At that point I might watch the news.

 

David.

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Well that is a view of course but at some stage the voting population are going to question why you can get 2/3rds of the seats with 1/3rd of the votes. 

There was a referendum about changing the system a few years ago during the Con Lib coalition .Turnout wasn’t high but No change was the result. 

[Tony_S]

15 minutes ago, DaveF said:

After eating a Pork Farms pork pie

Aditi’s brother was once awarded with one of those after he ran in a Marathon in Nottingham. Not sure who he gave it to as he was (and still is) a vegetarian. 

[tigerburnie]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi’s brother was once awarded with one of those after he ran in a Marathon in Nottingham. Not sure who he gave it to as he was (and still is) a vegetarian. 

He could probably have eaten it, there's very little meat in one of those.....................................

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, 4630 said:

It’ll also need formal input from the Office of Budget Responsibility to ensure some sense of prudence and to avoid spooking the financial markets.

 

Didn't one of the recent blue teams try that?   Not pretty .....

 

 

[polybear]

Bear here.....

 

Isolation Valves played with - Tick.

Mickey the MG cleared of sundry dross, ready for collection on Monday.  Tick.

Various sundry dross activities (nottalott) undertaken.  Barely a mark, let alone a Tick.  Must try harder.....

Oh yes, and a recipe for a Beary-made LDC with Lemon Buttercream sorted in preparation for "The Great iD Challenge......."

 

BG.

Edited July 5 by polybear

[polybear]

[polybear]

Edited July 5 by polybear

[polybear]

Plus a little something for our Colonial Cousins across the Pond so they don't feel left out.....

 

 

 

Edited July 5 by polybear

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

I mistook which entrance was the polling station

Apparently it's the one with the dogs outside.